THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


MIRA  HERSHEY  HALL 
LIBRAHY 


WHAT'S  WHAT  IN  THE 
LABOR   MOVEMENT 


Make  for  thyself  a  definition  or  description  of 
the  thing  which  is  presented  to  thee,  so  as  to  see 
distinctly  what  kind  of  a  thing  it  is,  in  its  sub- 
stance, in  its  nudity,  in  its  complete  entirety,  and 
tell  thyself  its  proper  name,  and  the  names  of  the 
things  of  which  it  has  been  compounded,  and  into 
which  it  will  be  resolved.  For  nothing  is  so  pro- 
ductive of  elevation  of  mind  as  to  be  able  to  ex- 
amine methodically  and  truly  every  object  which 
is  presented  to  thee  in  life,  and  always  to  look  at 
things  so  as  to  see  at  the  same  time  what  kind  of 
universe  this  is,  and  what  kind  of  use  everything 
performs  in  it,  and  what  value  everything  has 
with  reference  to  the  whole,  and  what  with  refer- 
ence to  man,  who  is  a  citizen  of  the  highest  city, 
of  which  all  other  cities  are  like  families;  what 
each  thing  is,  and  of  what  it  is  composed,  and 
how  long  it  is  the  nature  of  this  thing  to  endure. 

MARCUS  AURELIUS  ANTONINUS. 


WHAT'S  WHAT  IN 
THE   LABOR   MOVEMENT 


A  Dictionary  of  Labor  Affairs 
and  Labor  Terminology 


Compiled  by 

WALDO  R.   BROWNE 


NEW  YORK 
B.  W.  HUEBSCH,   Inc. 

1921 


Copyright,  1921.  by 
B.  W.  HUEBSCH,  Inc. 


PRINTED    IN  TUB   U.   E.   A. 


College 
Jjbrary 

HD 

4S 


PREFACE 

'""PHIS  that  they  call  'Organizing  of  Labour'  is,  if  well  under- 
1  stood,  the  Problem  of  the  whole  Future,  for  all  who  will  in 
future  govern  men."  It  is  well  over  three-quarters  of  a  century  since 
Carlyle  set  down  these  words  in  "Past  and  Present,"  but  the  inter- 
vening years  have  deepened  rather  than  dulled  their  truth.  Those 
years,  indeed,  cover  the  main  story  of  the  "organizing  of  labor" 
to  the  present  day;  and  the  "blind  irrational  giant"  of  Carlyle's  time 
has  become,  if  not  wholly  "a  seeing  rational  giant,  with  a  soul  in 
the  body  of  him,"  at  least  a  coherent  and  powerful  and  momentous 
influence  in  nearly  every  phase  of  public  affairs — an  influence  which, 
more  than  any  other,  is  slowly  but  inevitably  reshaping  modern 
civilization. 

Whatever  our  individual  attitude  toward  the  Labor  Movement 
may  be,  whether  we  regard  it  as  a  salvation  or  a  menace,  it  is  impera- 
tive that  we  should  at  least  understand  it.  And  yet  one  might  say 
with  truth  that  no  other  large  force  or  factor  of  these  times  is  less 
commonly  understood — or,  worse  still,  is  more  commonly  misunder- 
stood. At  the  bottom  of  much,  perhaps  most,  of  the  heated  argu- 
ment and  conflict  of  views  in  regard  to  "labor"  there  is  an  amazing 
lack  both  of  common  knowledge  regarding  elementary  facts  and 
theories  and  of  common  agreement  regarding  elementary  definitions. 
Here,  as  in  other  fields,  men  quarrel  not  so  much  over  actualities 
as  over  mere  words — words  to  which  they  have  attached  a  variety 
of  arbitrary  and  opposing  ideas,  for  the  most  part  utterly  unrelated 
to  facts.  They  are  like  persons  attempting  to  communicate  with 
one  another  in  a  language  of  which  each  has  invented  his  own 
alphabet. 

There  are  many  and  various  reasons  for  this  deplorable  condition, 
but  by  no  means  the  least  is  the  fact  that  there  has  hitherto  been 
available  no  popular  comprehensive  handbook  to  the  Labor  Move- 
ment as  a  whole — one  which  describes  and  explains  that  movement 
in  all  its  parts;  which  outlines  the  theories  that  animate  it,  the 

[v] 

• 

ISfiftlQQ 


policies  that  guide  it,  the  purposes  that  it  has  in  view;  and  which 
defines  the  principal  terms  associated  with  it.  The  existing  ency- 
clopaedias and  dictionaries  are  notoriously  deficient  in  their  treatment 
of  labor  affairs,  and  most  of  the  innumerable  books  on  one  or  another 
phase  of  the  general  subject  take  for  granted  in  their  readers  pre- 
cisely that  broad  background  of  elementary  information  of  which 
the  average  person  stands  most  in  need. 

The  present  volume  aims  to  fill  this  most  conspicuous  gap  among 
current  reference  books,  and  to  provide  a  convenient  and  concise 
vade  mecum  to  the  subject  which  will  be  permanently  valuable  to 
the  individual  employer  and  trade  unionist  as  well  as  to  the  general 
reader,  and  which  will  prove  of  daily  service  not  only  in  public 
libraries  and  newspaper  offices  but  among  the  necessary  reference 
equipment  of  industrial  organizations  of  every  sort — employers' 
associations,  chambers  of  commerce,  civic  federations,  trade  union 
"centrals,"  etc.  The  attempt  to  compress  so  vast  and  protean 
and  kaleidoscopic  a  subject  within  the  covers  of  a  single  moderately- 
sized  volume  will  seem  to  many  a  rash  undertaking.  But  the  in- 
sistent need  for  such  a  work  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  considered  a  sufficient 
justification  for  the  present  attempt. 

While  some  of  the  material  contained  in  this  volume  has  of 
necessity  been  gleaned  from  the  current  newspaper  and  periodical 
press,  the  compiler  has  for  the  most  part  depended  upon  the  standard 
literature  of  the  subject,  and  upon  official  governmental  reports 
and  similar  documents.  In  the  American  field,  liberal  use  has  been 
made  of  the  exhaustive  report  on  "Labor  Organizations,  Labor 
Disputes  and  Arbitration,"  prepared  by  Messrs.  Charles  E.  Edger- 
ton  and  E.  Dana  Durand  for  the  Federal  Industrial  Commission, 
and  published  in  Volume  XVII  of  the  Report  of  that  body.  A  num- 
ber of  the  entries  on  trade  unionism  and  the  legal  aspects  of  labor 
affairs  in  the  United  States  are  in  large  part  either  quoted  or  para- 
phrased from  that  work.  The  "Monthly  Labor  Review,"  published 
by  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  Labor,  has  also  been  a  very  valuable  source  of  information.  In 
view  of  the  comparative  frequency  with  which  the  "Staff  Report" 
of  the  Federal  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations  is  quoted  in  these 
pages,  it  may  be  well  to  recall  that  in  this  Report,  according  to  the 
chairman  of  the  Commission,  "no  statement  or  conclusion  of  fact 
adverse  to  the  attitude  or  interest  of  any  person  or  group  of  persons 
is  submitted,  except  as  declared  or  assented  to  by  the  person  or  by 
the  individuals  comprising  the  group  affected." 

[vi] 


While  limitations  of  space  make  it  impossible  to  give  a  complete 
list  of  the  many  other  publications  consulted  and  utilized  by  the 
compiler,  mention  must  at  least  be  made  of  the  following,  which 
have  proved  particularly  useful: 

Adams,  Thomas  Sewall,  and  Sumner,  Helen  L.  "Labor  Problems." 
New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company. 

Beard,  Mary.  "A  Short  History  of  the  American  Labor  Movement." 
New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace  &  Co. 

Carl  ton,  Frank  Tracy.  "The  History  and  Problems  of  Organized 
Labor."  Boston:  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

Carlton,  Frank  Tracy.  "Organized  Labor  in  American  History." 
New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

Clay,  Henry.  "Economics:  An  Introduction  for  the  General  Reader." 
New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company. 

Cole,  G.  D.  H.  "An  Introduction  to  Trade  Unionism."  London: 
Labour  Research  Department. 

Cole,  G.  D.  H.  "  Labour  in  the  Commonwealth:  A  Book  for  the  Younger 
Generation."  New  York:  B.  W.  Huebsch,  Inc. 

Cole,  G.  D.  H.  "The  Payment  of  Wages."  London:  Labour  Research 
Department. 

Cole,  G.  D.  H.  "The  World  of  Labour:  A  Discussion  of  the  Present 
and  Future  of  Trade  Unionism."  Fourth  edition.  London:  G.  Bell  &  Sons. 

Commons,  John  R.  (editor).  "Trade  Unionism  and  Labor  Problems." 
Boston:  Ginn  &  Company. 

Commons,  John  R.,  and  Andrews,  John  B.  "The  Principles  of  Labor 
Legislation."  Fourth  edition,  revised.  New  York:  Harper  &  Brothers. 

Dutt,  R.  Palme  (editor).  "The  Labour  International  Handbook." 
London:  Labour  Publishing  Co. 

Glocker,  Theodore  W.  "The  Government  of  American  Trade  Unions." 
Baltimore:  The  Johns  Hopkins  Press. 

Groat,  George  Gorham.  "An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Organized 
Labor  in  America."  New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company. 

Hillquit,  Morris.  "Socialism  in  Theory  and  Practice."  New  York: 
The  Macmillan  Company. 

Hollander,  Jacob  H.,  and  Barnett,  George  E.  (editors).  "Studies  in 
American  Trade  Unionism."  New  York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co. 

Hoxie,  Robert  Franklin.  "Trade  Unionism  in  the  United  States."  New 
York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

Janes,  George  Milton.  "The  Control  of  Strikes  in  American  Trade 
Unions."  Baltimore:  The  Johns  Hopkins  Press. 

Lloyd,  C.  M.  "Trade  Unionism."  London:  A.  &  C.  Black. 

[vii] 


O'Brien,  George.  "Labour  Organization."  London :  Methuen  &  Co.,  Ltd. 

Parker,  Carleton  H.  "The  Casual  Laborer,  and  Other  Essays."  New 
York:  Harcourt,  Brace  &  Co. 

Rubinow,  I.  M.    "Social  Insurance."    New  York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co. 

Russell,  Bertrand.  "Proposed  Roads  to  Freedom."  New  York:  Henry 
Holt  &  Co. 

Sanders,  Wm.  Stephen.  "Trade  Unionism  in  Germany."  London: 
Labour  Research  Department. 

Spedden,  Ernest  R.  "The  Trade  Union  Label."  Baltimore:  The 
Johns  Hopkins  Press. 

Tead,  Ordway,  and  Metcalf,  Henry  C.  "Personnel  Administration: 
Its  Principles  and  Practice."  New  York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Co. 

Webb,  Sidney  and  Beatrice.  "Industrial  Democracy."  London  and 
New  York:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co. 

Webb,  Sidney  and  Beatrice.  "The  History  of  Trade  Unionism."  Re- 
vised edition,  extended  to  1920.  London  and  New  York:  Longmans,  Green 
&Co. 

Weyforth,  William  O.  "The  Organizability  of  Labor."  Baltimore: 
The  Johns  Hopkins  Press. 

To  the  authors  and  publishers  of  the  above-mentioned  books, 
many  of  whom  have  allowed  a  generous  use  of  copyrighted  extracts, 
the  compiler  is  under  a  heavy  debt  of  gratitude.  Thanks  are  also 
due  on  similar  grounds  to  "The  New  Republic,"  "The  Freeman," 
and  Professor  Ernst  Freund.  For  individual  assistance  generously 
given  by  many  persons  during  the  preparation  of  this  book,  the  com- 
piler can  offer  only  a  collective  word  of  acknowledgment — save  in 
one  important  instance.  Without  the  devoted  and  unremitting 
collaboration  of  his  wife,  whose  contribution  to  this  task  is  scarcely 
less  than  his  own,  the  book  would  never  have  been  carried  through 
to  completion. 


WHAT'S  WHAT  IN  THE 
LABOR  MOVEMENT 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE 

Throughout  the  following  pages  the  use  of 
SMALL  CAPITALS  in  the  body  of  a  paragraph 
indicates  that  the  term  thus  emphasized  is 
separately  dealt  with  elsewhere  in  the  book, 
in  its  regular  alphabetical  order.  This  plan 
of  denoting  cross  references  as  they  occur  in 
the  text  is  not,  however,  followed  in  the  case 
of  such  constantly  recurring  terms  as  "trade 
union,"  "labor  movement,"  etc.  Where  a 
cross  reference  is  indicated  by  the  use  of 
SMALL  CAPITALS  in  the  body  of  an  entry, 
it  is  not  as  a  rule  repeated  among  the  cross 
references  given  at  the  close  of  the  entry. 


WHAT'S   WHAT   IN  THE 
LABOR   MOVEMENT 


A 


A.  D.  G.  B.  See  ALLGEMEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTS- 
BUND. 

A.  F.  of  L.    See  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

A.  W.  O.    See  AGRICULTURAL  WORKERS'  ORGANIZATION. 

A.  W.  U.    See  AUSTRALIAN  WORKERS'  UNION. 

Abnormal  Place.  In  British  coal-mining,  a  position  in  the  mine 
where,  owing  to  especial  difficulties  presented  by  the  conformation 
of  the  coal  seam,  the  miner  is  unable  in  a  given  time  to  extract  the 
amount  of  coal  necessary  to  secure  the  average,  or  something  like 
the  average,  PIECE  WORK  earnings.  In  nearly  all  wage  scales  in  the 
coal-mining  industry,  the  complications  presented  by  the  "abnormal 
place"  are  duly  provided  for.  (See  CONSIDERATION  MINERS.) 

Absentee  Capitalism.  The  modern  CAPITALISTIC  SYSTEM  is 
often  so  called,  because  of  the  widespread  extent  to  which  income  is 
derived  from  industrial  enterprises  by  investors,  or  stockholders, 
who  have  no  direct  relations  in  the  way  of  management  or  super- 
vision with  the  enterprises  from  which  they  derive  their  income. 
This  situation  has  a  very  definite  and  important  bearing  upon  labor 
conditions  and  industrial  relations.  "Stocks  are  bought  either  as  a 
speculation  or  as  an  investment,  and  in  case  either  the  physical 
property  deteriorates  or  the  productive  organization  tends  to  become 
inefficient,  the  well-informed  stockholder  generally  takes  no  steps  to 
correct  the  condition,  but  merely  throws  his  stock  upon  the  market. 


This  marks  a  very  real  and  definite  distinction  from  the  actual 
ownership  of  a  property  or  business  which  must  be  kept  in  good 
condition  by  its  owner  as  regards  both  plant  and  organization.  If 
all  industries  were  owned  and  operated  by  individuals,  there  might 
be  some  reason  to  hope  that  generally  satisfactory  wages  and  phy- 
sical conditions  might  be  attained  through  the  education  of  the 
owner  to  a  realization  that  permanent  success  depended  absolutely 
upon  the  maintenance  of  the  plant  in  the  best  condition  and  the 
permanent  satisfaction  of  the  legitimate  demands  of  the  workers,  but 
with  the  impersonal,  remote  and  irresponsible  status  of  control  by 
stock  ownership,  such  a  hope  must  be  purely  illusory.  The  ordinary 
stockholder  in  a  large  corporation  actually  occupies  a  less  direct 
relationship  to  the  corporation  in  which  he  is  interested,  has  less 
knowledge  of  its  actual  operations,  and  less  control  over  its  manage- 
ment, than  the  ordinary  citizen  has  over  local,  state  and  national 
governments."  (See  CORPORATION.) 

Absentee  Committee.    See  TIMEKEEPING  COMMITTEE. 

Absenteeism.  In  a  labor  sense,  this  term  has  reference  to  the 
practice  or  habit,  on  the  part  of  individual  employees,  of  being 
temporarily  absent  from  work.  As  a  fairly  constant  factor  in  indus- 
try, absenteeism  makes  for  lowered  plant  efficiency  and  decreased 
production;  while  it  involves  a  huge  annual  loss  of  wages  to  the 
workers.  (See  CLOCKING.) 

Academic  Socialism.    See  SOCIALISTS  OP  THE  CHAIR. 
Accessions.    See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 
Accident  Benefits.    See  DISABILITY  BENEFITS. 

Accident-Reporting  Laws.  Legislation  requiring  an  employer 
of  labor  to  file  with  the  proper  public  authorities,  within  a  specified 
time,  detailed  information  regarding  any  industrial  accident  that 
may  occur  in  his  establishment.  Compulsory  accident  reporting  is 
a  necessary  part  of  any  system  of  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION.  In 
the  case  of  occupational  diseases,  a  similar  reporting  duty  usually 
falls  upon  the  physician. 

Accord  System.  As  found  in  some  parts  of  Germany,  this  is 
a  system  of  CONVICT  LABOR  which  corresponds  to  what  is  known  in 
America  as  the  PIECE  PRICE  SYSTEM. 

AdamsonLaw.  In  September,  1916,  the  demands  of  the  RAIL- 
WAY BROTHERHOODS  for  the  basic  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  were  about  to  cul- 

[2] 


minate  in  a  strike  of  national  proportions,  when  President  Wilson  asked 
Congress  for  legislation  to  meet  the  situation  and  to  remedy  the 
obvious  failure  of  the  NEWLANDS  ACT  in  providing  for  settlement  of 
railway  wage  disputes.  The  result  of  this  request  was  the  passage 
of  a  measure  known  as  the  Adamson  Law,  which  specified  that  after 
January  i,  1917,  "eight  hours  shall,  in  contracts  for  labor  and 
service,  be  deemed  a  day's  work  and  the  measure  or  standard  of  a 
day's  work  for  the  purpose  of  reckoning  the  compensation"  of  rail- 
road trainmen.  Provision  was  also  made  for  a  Federal  Eight-Hour 
Commission,  to  study  and  report  upon  the  workings  of  the  act. 
This  Commission  reported  inconclusively  shortly  after  the  railroads 
were  taken  over  by  the  government  for  the  period  of  the  war.  The 
Adamson  Law  was  declared  constitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court 
in  the  spring  of  1917. 

Adjustment  Board.  Ordinarily,  either  a  board  set  up  by  a 
trade  union  for  the  settlement  of  internal  union  disputes,  or  a  joint 
board  of  employers  and  workers  set  up  to  deal  with  grievances. 

Administrative  Orders.  With  specific  reference  to  STATE 
INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSIONS,  these  are  orders  or  rules  issued  by,  or  under 
the  authority  of,  such  a  commission,  in  its  work  of  enforcing  and 
interpreting  the  state  laws  relating  to  industrial  matters.  Such 
orders  are  commonly  of  two  kinds:  (i)  General  orders,  applying 
to  all  establishments  or  all  persons  of  the  same  class  throughout  the 
state;  and  (2)  special  orders,  applying  to  a  single  establishment  or 
person.  While  provision  is  made  for  appeal  from  such  orders  in  a 
prescribed  form  and  process,  they  have  generally  the  binding  force 
of  legislative  enactments. 

Admission  to  the  Trade.    See  APPRENTICESHIP. 

Admittance  to  the  Trade  Union.  Aside  from  the  various 
trade  union  rules  regarding  qualifications  for  membership,  some  of 
which  are  noted  in  the  entry  RESTRICTION  OF  NUMBERS,  the  method 
by  which  qualified  persons  enter  a  trade  union  is  described  in  the 
following  summary  from  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION'S 
Report:  "A  few  national  unions  provide  for  admission  to  member- 
ship on  application  to  the  national  officers,  if  the  applicant  lives 
outside  the  jurisdiction  of  any  local  union.  Those  who  join  in 
organizing  a  new  LOCAL  are  almost  necessarily  admitted  by  action 
of  the  national  officers.  In  all  unions,  however,  the  regular  mode 
of  entrance  is  by  vote  of  a  local.  In  many  cases  a  written  applica- 
tion is  required,  endorsed  by  two  MEMBERS  IN  GOOD  STANDING. 

[3] 


Such  an  application,  when  it  is  required,  is  usually  referred  to  a 
[membership]  committee,  and  the  committee  is  often  forbidden  to 
report  at  the  same  meeting  at  which  the  application  is  presented. 
Whatever  the  preliminaries  may  be,  the  admission  of  the  candidate 
depends  upon  the  vote  of  the  members.  Often  the  vote  is  required 
to  be  taken  by  ball  ballot;  but  many  unions  leave  the  method  to 
the  option  of  the  locals,  and  a  few  require  an  open  vote.  In  many  a 
majority  is  sufficient  to  admit  a  candidate,  and  in  many  others 
the  required  majority  is  two-thirds.  In  several,  two,  three,  or  five 
black  balls  work  exclusion.  In  a  large  proportion  of  these,  however, 
those  who  cast  the  black  balls  are  required,  either  in  all  cases  or 
when  they  do  not  exceed  a  certain  number,  to  give  their  reasons. 
Sometimes  the  reasons  are  presented  in  writing,  and  the  names  of 
the  objectors  are  not  known  except  to  the  president.  If  no  reasons 
are  given,  it  is  usual  to  declare  the  candidate  elected.  If  reasons 
are  presented,  a  new  vote  is  taken;  in  many  unions  a  two-thirds 
majority  is  then  sufficient  to  admit.  .  .  .  Some  sort  of  pledge  of  faith- 
fulness to  the  union  is  always  administered.  .  .  .  Obligations  of  a  more 
general  character,  relating  to  moral  and  social  duties,  are  sometimes 
added.  The  pledge  is  not  usually  made  binding  by  oath,  but  simply 
by  a  promise  upon  honor."  (See  EXAMINING  BOARD.) 

Adventurer.     See  ENTREPRENEUR. 

Advisory  Councils.  As  found  in  some  of  the  larger  British 
trade  unions,  whose  membership  extends  throughout  the  United 
Kingdom,  these  are  delegate  bodies  representative  of  all  BRANCHES 
in  Scotland  or  in  Ireland.  Although  such  councils  have  no  execu- 
tive power,  they  occupy  an  important  place  in  British  trade  union 
structure,  inasmuch  as  their  recommendations  may  influence  the 
CENTRAL  EXECUTIVE  in  determining  policy  within  the  area  repre- 
sented by  an  advisory  council. 

Afa.    See  ANGESTELLTEN. 

Affiliation.  In  labor  terminology,  the  name  for  a  limited  con- 
nection between  one  trade  union  and  another,  or  between  one  union 
and  a  group  of  unions,  or  between  a  group  of  workers  and  a  central 
association  of  any  sort.  It  usually  implies  the  payment  of  a  joint 
fee  or  tax  and  the  readiness  for  joint  action;  but  it  is  not  adopted 
When  the  connection  is  already  so  close  that  the  respective  bodies 
are  integral  parts  of  the  same  unit.  A  LOCAL  may  be  affiliated  with 
the  CITY  CENTRAL  of  its  locality,  but  it  is  a  constituent  part  of  its 
national  union,  which  in  turn  is  usually  affiliated  with  the  AMERICAN 

UJ  ' 


FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  Affiliation,  in  the  trade  union  sense,  is 
generally  synonymous  with  FEDERATION;  although,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  may  denote  a  connection  for  which  the  term  "federation" 
would  be  inappropriate. 

Agent  Provocateur.  In  connection  with  American  labor 
affairs,  a  secret  agent  who  poses  as  a  workingman  or  ultra-radical 
and  endeavors  to  stir  up  factional  strife  within  a  labor  organization 
or  between  different  labor  elements;  or  who  endeavors  to  incite 
workingmen  to  make  rash  statements  or  take  violent  action,  so  as 
to  render  them  liable  to  criminal  prosecution  or  to  discredit  them 
and  their  organizations  before  public  opinion.  The  agent  provoca- 
teur is  an  important  factor  in  creating  that  atmosphere  of  mutual 
suspicion  upon  which  the  system  of  ESPIONAGE  IN  INDUSTRY  so 
largely  thrives.  (See  UNDER-COVER  MEN;  PLANT.) 

Agitator.  While  this  term  is  applicable  to  any  one  in  any 
field  who  agitates  or  urges  any  specific  reform  or  course  of  action, 
it  is  most  commonly  used  in  opprobrious  designation  of  working- 
class  leaders  who  are  charged  with  inciting  their  followers  to  rash 
or  hasty  or  "radical"  action.  "In  particular,  it  is  frequently  alleged 
by  employers  and  others  that  many,  if  not  perhaps  most,  strikes 
are  due,  not  so  much  to  the  general  desire  of  the  body  of  the  work- 
ingmen to  better  their  conditions,  as  to  the  influence  of  a  few  ex- 
tremists. There  are  many  professional  agitators,  it  is  claimed,  who 
have  altogether  exaggerated  and  erroneous  ideas  regarding  the  rights 
of  the  working  classes  and  the  injustice  of  existing  conditions;  or 
who  perchance  hope  to  secure  a  purely  selfish  advantage,  whether 
notoriety  or  some  pecuniary  gain,  through  fomenting  labor  disputes. 
So-called  WALKING  DELEGATES  are  especially  often  criticised  for 
their  part  in  promoting  strikes."  There  is  some  measure  of  truth  in 
these  assertions,  especially  as  they  relate  to  the  building  trades; 
but,  in  general,  the  influence  of  "agitators"  in  the  labor  movement 
is  immensely  exaggerated.  It  is  the  common  testimony  of  those 
who  have  impartially  studied  trade  unionism  that  labor  leaders  are 
as  a  rule  far  more  conservative  than  the  rank  and  file  unionists. 
Moreover,  in  all  but  a  very  few  unions,  strikes  can  only  be  inaugu- 
rated after  a  majority  (frequently  two-thirds  or  three-fourths)  of 
all  the  members  have  endorsed  the  proposal  by  secret  ballot.  Offi- 
cers and  BUSINESS  AGENTS  doubtless  often  exercise  great  influence 
in  bringing  propositions  for  strikes  before  their  organizations,  and 
in  persuading  the  members  how  they  shall  vote — which  is  equally 
true  of  all  human  organizations ;  but  they  have  no  dictatorial  power. 

1  [5] 


The  saying  of  a  great  Englishman,  Sir  Charles  Napier,  that  "the 
only  real  agitator  is  injustice"  holds  at  least  as  true  in  the  labor 
movement  as  in  any  other  field. 

Agrarianism.  The  principle  or  theory  of  an  equal  division 
of  land;  or,  more  generally,  any  theory  involving  radical  changes 
in  the  tenure  of  land.  Also,  the  movement  or  agitation  in  behalf 
of  such  theories.  Agrarianism  played  a  somewhat  prominent  part 
in  the  early  American  labor  movement.  The  original  agrarians, 
those  among  the  New  York  workingmen,  held  that  both  land  and 
capital  should  be  equally  divided  among  the  entire  population; 
but  the  later  movement,  beginning  about  1840,  had  reference  only 
to  land.  The  agrarian  agitation  was  largely  instrumental  in  shaping 
the  "free  soil"  movement  of  the  middle  ipth  century,  the  homestead 
movement,  and  the  SINGLE  TAX  movement  under  Henry  George's 
leadership.  (See  LAND  QUESTION.) 

Agreement  System.  A  term  commonly  applied  to  the  plan 
by  which  the  terms  and  conditions  of  labor  in  an  industry  as  a  whole 
or  in  one  department  of  an  industry  are  formulated  in  a  written 
agreement,  resulting  as  a  rule  from  formal  negotiations  between 
organizations  of  employers  and  employees.  Such  agreements  may 
be  either  national,  district,  or  local  in  scope.  '  'While  the  existence  of  a 
written  agreement  does  not  always  imply  that  COLLECTIVE  BAR- 
GAINING has  been  developed  to  a  higher  degree  than  in  cases  where 
no  such  agreements  are  adopted,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  usually 
where  the  practice  of  collective  bargaining  has  been  most  thoroughly 
and  successfully  worked  out,  the  results  of  the  bargain  are  set  forth 
in  written  agreements.  Many  of  these  written  agreements  also  pro- 
vide for  the  ARBITRATION  of  minor  disputes  arising  regarding  the 
interpretation  of  their  terms.  The  methods  by  which  written  agree- 
ments are  adopted,  their  contents,  and  their  bearing  upon  the  rela- 
tions of  employers  and  employees,  vary  greatly  in  different  cases. 
The  reference  of  particular  disputes  to  arbitration  is  not  uncommon 
even  where  systematic  collective  bargaining  and  written  agreements 
do  not  exist."  (See  JOINT  CONFERENCE  SYSTEM;  TRADE  AGREEMENT.) 

Agricultural  Cooperation.  That  form  of  COOPERATION  which 
consists  in  the  formation  of  buying  and  selling  organizations  among 
farmers,  by  means  of  which  farm  supplies  are  bought  at  wholesale, 
expensive  machinery  or  breeding  stock  is  held  and  used  in  common, 
CREDIT  UNIONS  are  formed,  and  various  agricultural  products  are 
marketed  by  joint  effort. 

[6] 


Agricultural  Labor.  In  respect  of  the  total  number  of  work- 
ers engaged,  agriculture  probably  outranks  any  other  industry  in 
this  and  other  large  countries.  Agricultural  labor  may  be  divided 
into  three  main  classes:  (i)  That  furnished  by  the  occupier's  family; 
(2)  hired  labor  domiciled  on  the  farm  or  adjacent  to  it;  (3)  that 
floating  or  migratory  contingent  which  year  by  year  seems  to  become 
a  larger  feature  in  the  farm  labor  supply  of  Europe  and  the  United 
States.  Although  special  phases  of  farm  enterprise  have  developed 
new  and  increasing  demands  for  skilled  workers,  farm  labor  is  for 
the  most  part  unskilled  labor,  a  considerable  portion  of  which  con- 
sists of  children,  women,  negroes  (in  the  southern  United  States), 
and  coolies  (in  the  western  United  States).  It  is  a  field  in  which 
long  hours,  low  wages,  and  CASUAL  LABOR  are  almost  universal. 
The  seasonal  nature  of  the  industry  makes  the  task  of  adjusting 
the  supply  of  agricultural  labor  to  the  demand  one  of  the  most  intri- 
cate and  difficult  problems  of  American  industry.  Whether  the 
lack  of  organization  among  farm  laborers  is  a  cause  or  an  effect  of 
their  comparatively  low  economic  status,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
trade  unionism  has  as  yet  made  little  headway  in  the  agricultural 
industry.  The  I.  W.  W.  has  had  some  success  in  organizing  the  casual 
and  migratory  harvest  hands  of  the  West,  but  beyond  this  there  is 
little  if  any  industrial  organization  of  farm  workers  in  the  United 
States.  Hoxie's  standard  work  on  American  trade  unionism  does 
not  even  mention  the  subject.  In  Europe,  however,  though  organi- 
zation in  the  agricultural  field  is  still  comparatively  backward, 
there  are  strong  national  unions  of  farm  workers  in  several  countries. 
The  movement  towards  trade  unionism  among  British  agricultural 
workers  is  advancing  rapidly,  the  total  number  of  those  organized 
being  now  over  300,000 — or  about  one-third  of  all  the  male  wage- 
earners  in  agriculture.  (See  LABOR  OUTINGS;  NEGRO  LABOR; 
AGRICULTURAL  WORKERS'  ORGANIZATION;  METAYAGE;  CROPPER; 
PRODUCT  SHARING.) 

Agricultural  Workers'  Organization.  The  most  energetic 
and  numerous  section  of  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD, 
consisting  of  farm  laborers  and  harvest  hands,  was  organized  under 
this  name  in  April,  1915.  The  "A.  W.  O.,"  as  it  is  usually  called, 
has  its  headquarters  in  Minneapolis,  and  is  strongest  in  the  Middle 
West  and  Northwest. 

Akademie  der  Arbeit.  This,  the  first  "university  of  labor"  to 
be  established  anywhere  in  the  world  under  government  auspices — 
was  opened  in  June,  1921,  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Its  sponsors 

m. 


are  the  Prussian  Ministers  of  Education  and  Finance,  and  the  mu- 
nicipal and  university  authorities  of  Frankfort;  and  its  purpose  is 
to  promote  among  existing  and  potential  labor  leaders  a  scientific 
knowledge  of  economic  and  industrial  relations.  Some  seventy  stu- 
dents— mostly  trade  union  officials — were  enrolled  for  the  first  session. 

Alien  Contract  Labor  Laws.    See  CONTRACT  LABOR. 

All -China  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  See  CHINESE 
LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

All  Grades  Movement.  Refers  to  the  effort  of  British  railway 
workers  to  secure  better  wages  and  working  conditions  by  concerted 
national  action,  beginning  in  1897.  Before  that  year,  their  efforts 
had  been  local  or  sectional,  and  nearly  always  in  the  interests  of 
particular  grades  or  classes  of  workers.  In  1897,  for  the  first  time, 
all  the  railway  companies  were  approached  simultaneously,  with  a 
request  for  improvements  in  all  grades  from  one  end  of  the  service 
to  the  other.  This  movement  did  much  to  bring  the  various  unions 
of  railway  workers  together,  resulting  in  the  merging,  in  1913,  of 
most  of  the  principal  unions  in  a  single  organization — the  National 
Union  of  Railwaymen;  now  one  of  the  largest  and  strongest  labor 
bodies  in  Great  Britain,  and  a  member  of  the  TRIPLE  ALLIANCE. 
(See  EMPLOYMENTAL  UNIONISM;  NEW  MODEL  OP  TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

All-India  Trades  Union  Congress.  This,  the  first  formal 
conference  of  labor  representatives  from  all  parts  of  India,  was  held 
at  Bombay  in  October,  1920,  with  delegates  from  forty  associations 
in  attendance.  Resolutions  were  adopted  nominating  a  standing 
committee  of  sixty  members  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  Congress 
and  to  provide  permanent  machinery  for  the  collection  of  informa- 
tion relating  to  trade  unions,  to  help  labor  organizations  by  advice, 
and  otherwise  to  further  the  cause  of  the  workers  of  India,  until 
the  second  session  of  the  Congress  should  be  held.  Arrangements 
were  also  made  for  drawing  up  a  permanent  constitution,  and  for 
securing  funds  to  maintain  a  permanent  central  office  in  Bombay. 
(See  INDIA,  LABOR  ORGANIZATION  IN.) 

All -Russia  Professional  Alliances.  See  TRADE  UNIONS  IN 
RUSSIA. 

All -Russian  Council  of  Professional  Alliances.  A  body 
which  forms  the  apex  of  trade  unionism  in  Russia.  As  originally 
constituted,  it  was  made  up  of  eleven  members  elected  by  the  annual 
Trade  Union  Congress,  together  with  representatives  from  each  of 

18] 


the  national  trade  unions  ("professional  alliances") — on  the  basis 
of  one  representative  for  each  50,000  members.  The  Council  must 
meet  once  a  month.  It  works  in  direct  association  with  the  Soviet 
government,  being  coordinated  with  the  PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT 
OF  LABOR  as  far  as  conditions  of  labor  are  concerned,  and  with  the 
SUPREME  COUNCIL  OF  PUBLIC  ECONOMY  on  the  side  of  industrial 
production,  distribution,  and  consumption.  It  seems  to  have  an 
effective  share  in  the  framing  of  labor  legislation,  and  collaborates 
with  the  national  trade  unions  in  organization  and  propaganda 
work.  It  is  supported  by  a  monthly  per  capita  tax  on  all  trade 
unionists. 

All -Russian  Insurance  Centre.  See  SOCIAL  INSURANCE 
IN  RUSSIA. 

Allen-Flood  Case.  See  EXCLUSION  POLICY]'  OF  TRADE 
UNIONISM. 

Allgemeine  Arbeiter -Union  (General  Workers'  Union).  The 
central  organization  of  communist  workers  in  Germany.  It  acts 
in  close  cooperation  with  the  Communist  Labor  Party,  formed  in 
April,  1920;  and  bitterly  opposes  the  "free"  or  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC 
UNIONS.  The  constituent  units  of  the  General  Workers'  Union  are 
mainly  works  organizations:  Its  membership  is  said  to  be  about 
10,000. 

Allgemeiner  Deutscher  Gewerkschaftsbund  (General  Ger- 
man Trade  Union  Federation).  Until  1919  the  central  national 
organization  of  the  ZENTRALVERBANDE  or  national  SOCIAL  DEMO- 
CRATIC UNIONS  in  [Germany  was  termed  the  Generalkommission 
der  Gewerkschaften — a]  standing  committee  the  members  of  which 
were  elected  by  Delegates  of  the  national  unions  who  met  every 
three  years  as  a  Trade  Union  Congress.  The  Commission  was 
financed  by  an  annual  contribution  of  about  four  cents  from  each 
member  of  each  affiliated  union,  and  it  reported  at  least  once  every 
three  months  to  a  Council  consisting  of  one  member  from  each 
of  the  Zentralverbdnde.  Its  duties  were  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
general  trade  union  agitation,  and  to  issue  statistics  concerning  the 
trade  union  world  generally.  From  its  office  in  Berlin  it  published  a 
weekly  paper,  prepared  material  relating  to  social  legislation  for 
the  use  of  labor  representatives  in  political  bodies,  and  performed 
various  other  functions  of  importance  in  the  trade  union  movement. 
A  trade  union  school  in  Berlin,  similar  in  kind  to  RUSKIN  COLLEGE 
but  supported  and  managed  entirely  by  trade  unionists,  was  under 

[93 


its  control.  At  its  1919  session,  the  German  Trade  Union  Congress 
resolved  to  bind  the  national  unions  more  closely  and  effectually 
together  by  creating  a  national  federation,  styled  the  Allgemeiner 
Deutscker  Gewerkscltaftsbund — popularly  known  as  the  A.  D.  G.  B. 
The  main  general  objects  of  this  organization  are:  (i)  Furthering 
trade  union  propaganda  by  the  collection  and  utilization  of  socio- 
political material  and  trade  union  statistics,  and  by  the  issue  of 
pamphlets;  (a)  fostering  the  protection  of  the  working  classes  by 
the  retention  of  counsel  in  legal  cases  and  by  managing  the  election 
of  socio-political  representatives  of  the  workers;  (3)  the  arrangement 
of  courses  in  trade  unionism,  the  delimitation  of  spheres  of  organi- 
zation and  agitation  of  the  unions,  the  management  of  exceptional 
conflicts,  and  the  furthering  of  international  relations  with  the 
unions  of  other  countries.  In  general  the  functions  of  the  old  General- 
kommission  will  be  continued  by  a  directorate  of  fifteen  members, 
of  whom  seven  are  salaried  officials;  this  directorate  is  assisted  by 
an  advisory  council  composed  of  one  representative  of  each  affiliated 
national  union — usually  the  president.  Every  third  year  the  direc- 
torate must  convene  a  Trade  Union  Congress.  The  method  of 
election  of  delegates  to  the  Congress  is  left  to  each  affiliated  union, 
the  number  they  are  allowed  to  send  being  one  delegate  for  every 
10,000  members.  The  Congress  elects  an  Executive  (Vorstand) 
of  fifteen  members,  which  reports  to  a  Council  (Ausschus)  consist* 
ing  of  one  representative  from  the  executive  of  each  affiliated  union, 
which  meets  as  occasion  requires  but  not  less  often  than  half-yearly. 
Special  congresses  may  be  convened,  if  necessary,  on  resolution  of 
the  advisory  council  or  on  motion  of  at  least  one-half  of  the  adhering 
unions.  If  a  union  is  unable  to  continue  with  its  own  means  a  wage 
movement  commenced  by  it  the  Federation  shall,  after  approval  by 
the  directorate,  grant  strike  benefits  to  that  union.  The  funds  re- 
quired for  this  aid  are  to  be  had  by  assessments  against  all  the 
affiliated  unions.  Some  fifty-two  national  unions,  with  a  total  mem- 
bership of  about  eight  and  a  half  million  workers,  are  now  federated 
in  this  organization.  (See  ARBEITERSEKRETARIAT;  GEWERKSCHAFT- 
HAUSER;  ANGESTELLTEN.) 

Alliance  of  Labor.    See  NEW  ZEALAND  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Allied  Printing  Trades  Councils.  Delegate  bodies  repre- 
sentative of  various  separately-organized  printing  trade  workers 
(typesetters,  pressmen,  stereotypers  and  electrotypers,  book-binders, 
and  photo-engravers),  set  up  in  localities  where  there  are  local 
branches  of  at  least  two  of  the  national  unions  involved.  Such  a 

[10] 


council  is  composed  of  three  workers  from  each  local  union  of  the 
different  trades,  and  is  governed  by  officers  of  its  own  election. 
One  of  its  principal  purposes  is  to  administer  the  allied  printing 
trades  label  placed  on  printing  jointly  produced  by  the  unions 
which  are  members  of  the  council.  All  local  branches  of  the  national 
organizations  involved  must  withdraw  their  individual  labels  as 
soon  as  an  allied  council  is  formed.  Appeals  from  the  decisions  of 
the  local  councils  in  regard  to  the  label  and  other  matters  are  heard 
by  a  national  joint  conference  board,  composed  of  representatives 
of  the  national  unions  in  the  printing  trades  which  are  party  to 
the  agreement.  (See  TRADES  COUNCIL — AMERICAN;  PRINTING 
TRADES  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  CONFERENCE  COUNCIL.) 

Allied  Printing  Trades  Label.  See  ALLIED  PRINTING  TRADES 
COUNCILS. 

Allied  Trades  Council.     See  TRADES  COUNCIL — AMERICAN. 

Allocation  of  Work.  The  distribution  among  the  workers 
in  a  given  group  of  particular  pieces  of  work  or  working  places. 
"The  question  is  of  some  importance  in  many  PIECE-WORK  trades, 
and  there  is  much  complaint  among  the  miners  and  others  that 
favoritism  in  assigning  working  places  and  jobs  is  used  as  a  covert 
method  of  VICTIMIZATION."  (See  CLICKING  SYSTEM.) 

Amalgamation.  In  trade  union  terminology,  the  merging  of 
two  or  more  unions  into  one  integral  body,  with  a  single  constitution, 
set  of  officers,  plan  of  action,  etc.  Such  bodies  are  commonly  known 
as  "amalgamated  societies,"  "amalgamated  associations,"  etc. 
Amalgamation  may  be  merely  a  fusion  of  two  or  more  rival  organiza- 
tions following  the  same  craft  or  occupation,  in  which  case  the  result- 
ing "amalgamated  society"  still  remains  a  CRAFT  UNION.  Or  it  may 
be  a  fusion  of  two  or  more  craft  unions  in  different  occupations  of 
the  same  industry,  the  result  being  an  INDUSTRIAL  UNION.  Amal- 
gamation has  been  most  highly  developed  in  the  German  trade 
union  movement,  where  it  has  done  much  to  solve  the  problem  of 
JURISDICTION  and  to  minimize  other  evils  of  SECTIONALISM,  while 
immensely  strengthening  the  bargaining  power  and  fighting  resources 
of  German  labor.  The  process  of  amalgamation  is  hindered  by  many 
difficulties — legal,  financial,  official,  and  psychological.  Neverthe- 
less, the  movement  toward  amalgamation  has  made  tremendous 
progress  of  late  in  the  trade  union  world,  and  is  likely  to  be  one  of 
the  most  marked  developments  of  the  future.  Amalgamation  should 
be  carefully  differentiated  from  FEDERATION  and  AFFILIATION,  the 


latter  being  merely  forms  of  common  association  rather  than  of 
fusion  or  merging.  (See  MALS;  COMPOUND  CRAFT  UNION;  TRADE 
UNION  AMALGAMATION  ACT.) 

American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation.  See  INTER- 
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION  FOR  LABOR  LEGISLATION;  LABOR  LEGIS- 
LATION; LABOR  PRESS. 

American  Federation  of  Labor.  This,  the  leading  labor 
body  of  America,  came  into  existence  in  1881,  under  the  name  of 
"Federation  of  Organized  Trades  and  Labor  Unions."  It  was  re- 
organized and  given  its  present  title  in  1886.  The  main  constituent 
units  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  (as  it  is  commonly  called)  are  well  over  a 
hundred  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNIONS,  mainly  of  the  craft 
type,  which  retain  almost  complete  autonomy  within  the  Federa- 
tion. In  addition  to  these,  a  considerable  number  of  local  bodies 
known  as  FEDERAL  LABOR  UNIONS  and  LOCAL  TRADE  UNIONS  are 
directly  affiliated  with  the  A.  F.  of  L.  The  membership  of  the 
above-named  groups  represents  the  constituent  membership  of  the 
Federation.  It  is  perhaps  the  chief  purpose  of  the  Federation  to 
further  the  organization  of  new  units  in  these  groups;  and  also  to 
promote  the  sub-federation  of  the  existing  units  into  CITY  CENTRALS, 
STATE  FEDERATIONS  OF  LABOR,  and  so-called  national  DEPARTMENTS, 
all  of  which  (though  constituting  a  dual  membership)  are  separately 
represented  in  the  Federation's  annual  convention.  The  other 
main  objects  of  the  Federation  are:  (i)  To  further  mutual  assistance 
and  cooperation  between  its  affiliated  units  and  sub-federations; 
(2)  "to  secure  legislation  in  the  interest  of  the  working  people,  and 
influence  public  opinion,  by  peaceful  and  legal  methods,  in  favor  of 
organized  labor";  (3)  "to  aid  and  encourage  the  sale  of  UNION 
LABEL  goods";  and  (4)  "to  aid  and  encourage  the  LABOR  PRESS  of 
America."  The  Federation  maintains  headquarters  in  Washington, 
D.  C.,  and  holds  an  annual  convention.  This  convention  is  a  legis- 
lative body,  with  practically  sovereign  powers.  Voting  on  ordinary 
questions  is  decided  by  a  show  of  hands,  but  in  case  of  a  roll  call 
each  delegate  is  entitled  to  cast  one  vote  for  every  hundred  members 
or  major  fraction  thereof  whom  he  represents.  The  permanent 
officers  of  the  Federation  are  a  president,  eight  vice-presidents,  a 
secretary,  and  a  treasurer.  These  eleven  officers  form  the  executive 
council,  or  governing  body  of  the  Federation.  The  executive  council 
carries  out  the  convention's  orders,  and  issues  statements  on  labor 
questions  from  time  to  time.  It  initiates  many  of  the  measures 
brought  before  the  convention;  it  watches  and  initiates  national  and 

[12] 


state  labor  legislation,  organizes  federal  labor  unions  and  local  trade 
unions,  reports  BOYCOTTS  for  endorsement,  unifies  organizations, 
sends  out  speakers,  grants  and  revokes  charters  at  the  order  of  the 
convention,  and  performs  various  other  functions.  The  Federa- 
tion's revenues  are  derived  from  CHARTER  FEES,  MEMBERSHIP  DUES 
from  affiliated  bodies,  and  a  PER  CAPITA  TAX  laid  upon  every  unionist 
belonging  to  an  affiliated  body.  The  Federation  maintains  a  defence 
fund  contributed  by  the  federal  and  local  labor  unions,  which  is 
used  in  paying  strike  benefits  to  the  members  of  these  bodies.  The 
total  membership  of  all  unions  affiliated  with  the  Federation  is  now 
about  four  millions.  One  of  the  .two  main  principles  upon  which 
the  Federation  has  been  built  up  is  that  of  craft  as  opposed  to  indus- 
trial organization,  although  a  considerable  measure  of  the  latter 
exists  among  its  affiliated  units.  The  other  main  principle  is  that 
of  non-political  activities,  although  in  this  case  also  the  Federation 
has  been  forced  to  a  considerable  degree  of  compromise.  In  general, 
the  Federation  is  decidedly  representative  of  the  conservative  ele- 
ments in  American  trade  unionism.  "The  basis  of  the  Federation 
is  that  principle  of  alliance,  and  union  for  certain  purposes,  of  inde- 
pendent minor  republics,  upon  which  the  union  of  the  American 
states  proceeded.  Each  trade  is  independently  organized,  not,  it  is 
conceived,  by  virtue  of  any  authority  emanating  from  the  head  of 
the  whole,  but  by  its  own  independent  power.  Each  trade  organiza- 
tion retains  its  sovereign  control  of  its  internal  affairs,  and  only 
joins  with  the  others  in  a  federal  organization  for  the  consideration 
of  common  interests  and  the  promotion  of  the  common  good."  The 
Federation  now  includes  a  considerable  majority  of  the  organized 
workers  of  America.  The  strongest  of  the  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS 
— the  engineers,  the  firemen,  the  conductors,  and  the  trainmen — 
remain  outside  of  it,  and  so  do  a  few  other  important  organizations. 
(See  LABOR  FORWARD  MOVEMENT;  BUSINESS  UNIONISM;  CLASS 
UNIONISM;  PURE  AND  SIMPLE  UNIONISM;  REGULAR  UNIONISM; 
ORGANIZER;  FEDERATION;  COLOR  LINE  IN  TRADE  UNIONISM;  SUC- 
CESSIVE STRIKE;  BUCK  STOVE  AND  RANGE  CASE;  INTERNATIONAL 
FEDERATION  OP  TRADE  UNIONS;  PORTO  RICAN  FREE  FEDERATION 
OF  WORKERS.) 

American  Labor  Union.  See  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE 
WORLD. 

American  Plan.  A  term  often  used  by  employers  in  desig- 
nation of  what  they  call  the  "OPEN  SHOP  principle,"  it  being  contended 
that  the  discrimination  against  non-union  workers  involved  in  the 


CLOSED  SHOP  principle  is  un-American.  But  many  advocates  of  the 
so-called  "American  plan"  use  this  name  to  camouflage  an  at  least 
equally  un-American  discrimination — directed  in  their  case  against 
trade  unionists.  In  fact,  as  some  of  its  most  prominent  adherents 
interpret  the  "American  plan,"  what  is  intended  is  not  the  open 
shop  at  all,  but  the  "closed  non-union  shop"  or  "anti-union  shop" 
— one  in  which  no  member  of  an  "outside"  trade  union  would  be 
permitted  to  work.  Non-union  and  anti-union  shops  are  sometimes 
called  by  the  employers  "American  shops"  or  "independent  American 
shops." 

American  Shop.    See  AMERICAN  PLAN. 

American  Social  Democratic  League.  Organized  in  1918 
by  a  small  group  of  prominent  pro-war  secessionists  from  the  SOCIAL- 
IST PARTY  OF  AMERICA.  The  League  has  never  attracted  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  socialist  movement,  though  figuring  largely  in  the 
press.  It  received  considerable  approval  from  the  government,  its 
members  being  the  only  socialists  from  this  country  who  were  per- 
mitted to  attend  international  conferences  abroad  during  the  war. 

American  Standard  of  Living.  Although  this  vague  term, 
much  used  as  it  is,  has  never  been  and  probably  never  could  be 
exactly  defined,  perhaps  as  good  an  approximation  as  any  to  its 
meaning  is  contained  in  the  following,  from  John  Mitchell's  "Organ- 
ized Labor":  "The  American  standard  of  living  should  mean,  to  the 
ordinary  unskilled  workman  with  an  average  family,  a  comfortable 
house  of  at  least  six  rooms.  It  should  mean  a  bathroom,  good  sani- 
tary plumbing,  a  parlor,  dining  room,  kitchen,  and  sufficient  sleeping 
room  that  decency  may  be  preserved  and  a  reasonable  degree  of 
comfort  maintained.  The  American  standard  of  living  should  mean 
to  the  unskilled  workman  carpets,  pictures,  books,  and  furniture 
with  which  to  make  home  bright,  comfortable,  and  attractive  for 
himself  and  his  family,  an  ample  supply  of  clothing  suitable  for  winter 
and  summer,  and  above  all  a  sufficient  quantity  of  good,  wholesome, 
nourishing  food  at  all  times  of  the  year.  The  American  standard  of 
living,  moreover,  should  mean  to  the  unskilled  workman  that  his 
children  be  kept  in  school  until  they  have  attained  to  the  age  of 
sixteen  at  least,  and  that  he  be  enabled  to  lay  by  sufficient  to  main- 
tain himself  and  his  family  in  times  of  illness,  or  at  the  close  of  his 
industrial  life,  when  age  and  weakness  render  further  work  impossible, 
and  to  make  provision  for  his  family  against  his  premature  death 
from  accident  or  otherwise."  (See  STANDARD  OF  LIVING.) 

[14] 


Amsterdam  Trade  Union  Internationale.  See  INTERNA- 
TIONAL FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS. 

Anarchism.  In  its  derivative  sense,  the  theory  or  fact  of  non- 
government or  "government  by  none" — just  as  the  word  "monarch- 
ism"  denotes  the  theory  or  fact  of  "government  by  one."  Broadly 
speaking,  anarchism  may  be  defined  as  a  social  doctrine  based  on 
the  conception  that  all  constituted  authority  is  ethically  wrong  and 
antagonistic  to  man's  highest  development.  Anarchism  would 
abolish  all  constraint  save  intelligent  obedience  to  natural  laws, 
and  would  substitute  for  the  present  political  State  a  voluntary 
association  of  free  individuals,  acting  in  harmony  with  the  law  of 
MUTUAL  AID.  Says  Bertrand  Russell:  "It  is  opposed  to  the  State 
as  the  embodiment  of  the  force  employed  in  the  government  of  the 
community.  Such  government  as  Anarchism  can  tolerate  must 
be  free  government,  not  merely  in  the  sense  that  it  is  that  of  a  ma- 
jority, but  in  the  sense  that  it  is  that  assented  to  by  all.  Anarchists 
object  to  such  institutions  as  the  police  and  the  criminal  law,  by 
means  of  which  the  will  of  one  part  of  the  community  is  forced 
upon  another  part.  In  their  view,  the  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment is  not  very  enormously  preferable  to  other  forms  so  long  as 
minorities  are  compelled  by  force  or  its  potentiality  to  submit  to  the 
will  of  majorities.  Liberty  is  the  supreme  good  in  the  Anarchist 
creed,  and  liberty  is  sought  by  the  direct  road  of  abolishing  all 
forcible  control  over  the  individual  by  the  community."  Two  dif- 
ferent, and  in  some  ways  opposing,  schools  of  anarchism  may  be 
noted:  (i)  Individualist  or  philosophical  anarchism,  mainly  an 
American  intellectual  movement,  which  would  have  all  forms  of 
voluntary  organization  spring  from  the  individual,  and  advocates 
a  revolution  of  ideas;  (2)  anarchist  communism,  mainly  a  European 
working-class  movement,  which  accepts  the  CLASS  STRUGGLE  and 
would  overthrow  present  forms  of  government  by  force  if  necessary, 
substituting  therefor  a  communal  life  whose  ideal  does  not  greatly 
differ  from  that  of  SOCIALISM  save  that  it  would  not  be  realized 
through  the  State.  Most  anarchism  of  today  is  of  the  latter  type. 
To  quote  Mr.  Russell  again:  "Socialism  and  Anarchist  Communism 
alike  have  arisen  from  the  perception  that  private  capital  is  a  source 
of  tyranny  by  certain  individuals  over  others.  Orthodox  Socialism 
believes  that  the  individual  will  become  free  if  the  State  becomes  the 
sole  capitalist.  Anarchism,  on  the  contrary,  fears  that  in  that  case 
the  State  might  merely  inherit  the  tyrannical  propensities  of  the 
private  capitalist.  Accordingly,  it  seeks  for  a  means  of  reconciling 

[15] 


communal  ownership  with  the  utmost  possible  diminution  in  the 
powers  of  the  State,  and  indeed  ultimately  with  the  complete  aboli- 
tion of  the  State.  It  has  arisen  mainly  within  the  Socialist  movement 
as  its  extreme  left  wing."  Anarchism  differs  from  SYNDICALISM 
chiefly  in  that,  while  the  syndicalists  would  substitute  for  the  present 
political  State  a  government  of  trade  unionism  solely  in  the  interests 
of  the  working  class,  true  anarchists  are  opposed  to  any  form  of 
coercive  government.  (See  FORCE  ANARCHISTS;  BOLSHEVISM.) 

Anarchist  Communism.    See  ANARCHISM;  COMMUNISM. 
Anarchists  of  the  Deed.     See  FORCE  ANARCHISTS. 
Anarcho-Sozialismus.     See  GEWERKSCHAFTEN. 

Angestellten.  Salaried  or  non-manual  workers — the  class 
familiarly  known  as  BLACKCOATS  in  England  and  WHITE  COLLARS 
in  America — are  so  called  in  Germany.  They  are  for  the  most 
part  organized  separately  from  the  manual  wage-earners,  in  strong 
national  unions,  with  a  central  federative  body — the  Arbeit sge- 
metnschaft  freier  Angestelltenverbdnde,  more  commonly  referred  to  as 
"Afa."  The  latter  works  in  close  cooperation  with  the  ALLGE- 
MEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND. 

Angestelltenrat  (Non-Manual  or  Salaried  Employees'  Works 
Council).  See  GERMAN  WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Anti -Sabotage  Laws.    See  CRIMINAL  SYNDICALISM  LAWS. 
Anti -Screening  Laws.    See  SCREENING  SYSTEM. 
Anti -Truck  Laws.    See  TRUCK  SYSTEM. 

Anti -Union  Shop.  See  OPEN  SHOP;  NON-UNION  SHOP; 
AMERICAN  PLAN. 

Apportionment  Lists.  In  the  British  labor  movement, 
some  of  the  bodies  designated  to  settle  DEMARCATION  disputes  issue 
from  time  to  time  printed  circulars  embodying  their  findings  in  a 
series  of  decisions.  These  "apportionment  lists,"  as  they  are  called, 
are  supplied  for  the  information  of  the  trades  in  the  particular 
districts  to  which  they  apply. 

Apprentice.  One  who,  "by  promise,  indenture,  or  covenant" 
for  a  specified  time,  is  being  taught  a  trade  by  a  master  of  the  trade 
or  by  some  one  in  the  latter's  employ.  During  the  time  of  such  in- 
struction the  apprentice  may  receive  only  nominal  wages,  or  no 


wage  at  all ;  or  he  may  even  work  without  compensation  and  pay  for 
his  instruction  as  well.  The  latter  basis,  however,  is  now  rare.  (See 
APPRENTICESHIP;  LEARNER;  HELPER.) 

Apprenticeship  or  Apprentice  System."  The  custom  of 
requiring  a  beginning  worker  to  serve  a  period  of  preliminary  train- 
ing and  learning  before  being  permitted  to  follow  his  trade  or  craft 
reaches  back  at  least  as  far  as  the  i6th  century.  During  Queen 
Elizabeth's  reign  it  was  enacted  that  no  person  should  exercise  any 
trade  or  "mystery"  without  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  seven 
years.  The  apprentice  was  "bound"  or  "indentured"  to  his  master 
by  a  strict  contract  for  that  period;  he  lived  in  the  home  of  the  mas- 
ter, and  the  latter  became  his  guardian,  responsible  not  only  for  his 
manual  training  but  for  his  physical  and  moral  well-being.  With 
the  introduction  of  machinery  and  the  DIVISION  OP  LABOR,  the  old 
"indentured"  apprenticeship  system  began  to  decay,  until  in  the 
sixties  it  was  largely  a  thing  of  the  past.  Today,  except  in  some  of 
the  older  and  more  highly-skilled  trades,  it  has  been  practically 
replaced  by  various  schemes  of  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  carried  on 
outside  the  shop,  and  covering  a  much  shorter  period.  But  the  prob- 
lem presented  by  large  numbers  of  young  and  comparatively  un- 
skilled workers  employed  in  the  guise  of  apprentices  or  LEARNERS, 
and  working  in  competition  with  older  skilled  craftsmen,  is  still  an 
important  one  to  trade  unionists.  Hence  the  strong  trade  union 
insistence  on  what  is  called  the  "limitation  of  apprentices."  Pro- 
fessor Carlton  summarizes  this  matter  as  follows:  "Many  unions 
composed  of  skilled  men  demand  that  the  number  of  apprentices 
in  a  shop  be  limited  and  that  provisions  be  made  for  adequate  instruc- 
tion. The  length  of  apprenticeship  insisted  upon  is  usually  three  or 
four  years,  instead  of  the  seven  of  the  traditional  apprenticeship 
system.  The  apprenticeship  period  usually  begins  between  the 
ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty-one  years.  The  common  ratio  of  appren- 
tices to  journeymen  is  one  to  five.  In  some  of  the  building  trades 
a  progressive  restriction  is  agreed  upon.  The  Stone  Cutters  only 
allow  one  apprentice  in  a  yard  employing  less  than  fifteen  journey- 
men, not  more  than  two  in  case  less  than  one  hundred  are  employed, 
and  not  more  than  four  in  any  yard.  '  Except  in  the  old  handcraf ts, 
which  have  suffered  little  deterioration  from  machinery  or  new 
processes,  together  with  the  building,  the  metal,  and  the  printing 
trades,  no  provisions  regarding  entrance  to  the  trade  are  usually 
contained  in  the  agreements  between  employers  and  employees.' 
Strong  unions  in  trades  requiring  skilled  work  are  most  insistent 

[17] 


upon  rules  regulating  apprenticeship.  Only  a  comparatively  small 
number  of  unions  are  able  effectively  to  enforce  rules  limiting  the 
number  of  apprentices."  (See  PATRIMONY;  ILLEGAL  MEN;  OPEN 
TRADES;  INDENTURED  SERVICE;  WISCONSIN  APPRENTICESHIP  SYSTEM.) 

Approved  Societies.    See  NATIONAL  INSURANCE  ACT. 

Arbeidernes  Faglige  Landsorganisation  i  Norge  (Nor- 
wegian National  Trade  Union  Federation).  The  principal  labor 
organization  of  Norway;  established  1899.  A  membership  of  150,000 
was  represented  by  the  Federation  in  July,  1920.  Close  relations 
are  maintained  with  the  Norske  Arbeider  Parti  (Norway  Labor 
Party),  which  since  1918  has  been  dominated  by  the  communist 
elements.  In  1919  the  Party  decided  to  join  the  third  INTER- 
NATIONALE, and  a  year  later  it  adopted  a  resolution  favoring  a  Soviet 
government  for  Norway.  This  revolutionary  programme  was  en- 
dorsed by  the  Federation  at  its  1920  Congress. 

Arbeiter.  Manual  wage-earners  are  so  called  in  Germany — 
the  non-manual  or  salaried  workers  being  known  as  ANGESTELLTEN. 

Arbeiterbildungsausschuss.  See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCA- 
TION. 

Arbeiterkammern.  Austrian  chambers  of  labor  or  INDUS- 
TRIAL COUNCILS,  established  under  a  law  recentty  enacted  by  the 
National  Assembly.  Their  general  purpose  is  "to  represent  the 
economic  interests  and  to  promote  the  economic  and  social  conditions 
of  manual  workers  and  salaried  employees  in  industry,  commerce, 
transportation,  and  mining."  Each  chamber  of  labor  is  to  be  com- 
posed of  two  sections — one  for  manual  workers  and  one  for  salaried 
employees.  A  chamber  may  be  composed  of  not  less  than  thirty 
and  not  more  than  one  hundred  members.  The  election  of  members 
is  to  be  effected  according  to  the  principles  of  proportionate  repre- 
sentation, by  direct  secret  ballot,  and  for  a  term  of  five  years.  Each 
section  forms  a  separate  electorate.  The  costs  of  the  chambers 
of  labor  are  to  be  borne  by  the  workers  and  salaried  employees 
themselves,  and  they  are  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  Min- 
istry for  Social  Administration. 

Arbeiterrat  (Manual  Wage-Earners'  Works  Council).  See 
GERMAN  WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Arbeitersekretariat.  In  the  German  trade  union  movement, 
an  office  for  the  collection,  classification,  and  dissemination  of 

[18] 


trade  union  information,  statistics,  etc.,  and  for  general  aid  to  trade 
unionists.  The  secretary  of  a  GEWERKSCHAFTSKARTELL  (trades 
council)  is  usually  the  local  Arbeitersekretar ,  acting  as  "a  guide, 
philosopher,  and  friend  in  industrial  and  political  matters  to  all 
Social  Democrats  and  trade  unionists  in  the  region  under  his 
charge.  The  Arbeitersekretariat  often  carries  out  extremely  valuable 
social  research  work.  For  instance,  that  of  Nuremberg  some  years 
ago  investigated  the  FAMILY  BUDGETS  of  many  thousands  of  work- 
men in  that  city,  and  published  the  results  as  a  special  report." 
A  Zentralarbeitersekretariat  is  attached  to  the  Berlin  office  of  the 
ALLGEMEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND;  among  its  other 
duties  is  that  of  representing  individual  members  of  trade  unions 
in  regard  to  matters  of  old  age  and  sickness  insurance  which  come 
before  the  national  insurance  bureau. 

Arbeitsgemeinschaft    freier    Angestelltenverbande.       See 

ANGESTELLTEN. 

Arbeitsgemeinschaften.  In  Germany,  these  are  joint  com- 
mittees or  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  of  trade  unionists  and  employers 
for  specific  trades  or  industries.  They  were  instituted  during  the 
war  for  the  furtherance  of  industrial  peace  and  cooperation,  and  have 
continued  their  functions  since  the  armistice. 

Arbitration.  In  an  industrial  sense,  the  plan  of  referring  the 
settlement  of  differences  or  disputes  between  employers  and  workers 
to  an  "impartial"  agency,  public  or  private,  with  powers  to  conduct 
an  independent  investigation  of  the  matter  and  to  hand  down  a 
"neutral"  decision  or  award.  Arbitration  should  not  be  confused 
with  CONCILIATION.  Whereas  under  conciliation  the  disputants 
merely  endeavor  to  reach  an  agreement  between  themselves,  with 
or  without  the  assistance  of  a  third  party,  under  arbitration  the 
decision  or  settlement  is  arrived  at  by  a  presumably  neutral  or  im- 
partial agency.  Arbitration  may  be  either  voluntary  or  compul- 
sory. In  the  former  case,  the  two  parties  voluntarily  refer  their 
dispute  to  a  chosen  agency  of  arbitration.  In  the  latter  case,  the 
law  directly  or  indirectly  compels  the  disputants  to  submit  their 
quarrel  to  an  outside  agency  for  decision.  In  either  case  the  usual 
procedure  of  arbitration  consists  in  the  following  steps:  (i)  Sub- 
mission of  the  dispute  to  the  decision  of  a  third  party;  (2)  submission 
to  an  investigation;  (3)  refraining  from  strike  or  lockout  pending 
investigation;  (4)  drawing  up  an  AWARD.  The  award  may  or  may 
not  be  binding  on  the  contending  parties,  according  to  the  terms 

[19] 


under  which  the  dispute  was  submitted  to  arbitration.  But  the 
process  of  arbitration  is  still  voluntary  if  only  the  first  step — the 
submission  of  the  dispute — be  reserved  to  voluntary  action;  even 
though  the  three  other  steps  and  acceptance  of  the  award  are  com- 
pulsory. "In  order  correctly  to  understand  the  scope  and  nature  of 
industrial  arbitration,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  continually 
the  important  distinction  between  the  two  chief  classes  of  industrial 
differences  which  may  be  adjusted  by  peaceful  methods.  These 
two  classes  are:  (i)  Those  which  concern  the  interpretation  of  the 
existing  terms  of  employment,  usually  of  a  minor  character;  and  (2) 
those  which  have  to  do  with  the  general  terms  of  future  employment, 
and  which  are  usually  more  important.  The  great  majority  of  dis- 
putes are  of  the  former  class.  They  relate  not  to  questions  of  prin- 
ciple, but  to  details  and  interpretations.  Thus,  if  there  be  a  general 
agreement  or  understanding  that  a  certain  price  shall  be  paid  to 
workingmen  for  doing  a  certain  piece  of  work,  a  difference  may  arise 
in  case  there  is  some  minor  change  in  the  work  to  be  done.  If  the 
employer  agrees  to  hire  only  union  men,  there  may  be  a  dispute  as 
to  the  standing  of  some  man  whom  he  employs.  Of  course,  these 
questions  may  readily  pass  over  into  disputes  as  to  more  general 
matters.  On  the  other  hand,  from  time  to  time  the  question  arises 
between  an  employer  and  his  men,  or  between  organizations  of  em- 
ployers and  of  employees,  as  to  the  general  conditions  under  which 
labor  shall  thereafter  be  performed.  Such  differences  are  likely  to 
involve  larger  numbers  of  persons  than  those  of  the  first  class  and  to 
be  more  difficult  of  adjustment."  The  settlement  of  such  general 
questions  is  often  known  as  "primary  arbitration,"  and  represents 
a  process  akin  to  that  of  legislation.  The  interpretation  and  general 
application  of  terms  already  fixed,  sometimes  called  "secondary 
arbitration,"  is  purely  a  judicial  process.  A  majority  of  the  states 
in  this  country  have  enacted  legislation  providing  for  the  arbitra- 
tion of  industrial  disputes.  Permanent  boards  of  conciliation  and 
arbitration  have  been  set  up  in  some  states ;  in  others  the  state  labor 
commissioner  acts  as  MEDIATOR  and  ARBITRATOR;  while  in  still  others 
this  function  is  assigned  to  the  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION. 
Some  states  have  made  legislative  provision  for  local  boards  of 
arbitration  in  certain  circumstances  and  under  specified  conditions. 
The  Federal  government  has  enacted  various  laws  relating  to  arbi- 
tration in  connection  with  disputes  among  employers  and  employees 
engaged  in  interstate  commerce;  and  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPART- 
MENT OF  LABOR  has  power  to  act,  within  rather  limited  scope,  under 
certain  emergencies.  But  more  important  than  these  public  agencies 

[20] 


is  the  voluntary  establishment  of  arbitration  machinery  within  the 
various  trades  themselves,  by  the  method  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAIN- 
ING. Many  TRADE  AGREEMENTS  provide  for  referring  all  disputes, 
especially  those  relating  to  the  interpretation  of  the  labor  contract, 
to  joint  boards  or  committees  representing  the  employers  and  em- 
ployees, while  in  numerous  instances  impartial  umpires  or  arbitra- 
tors are  appointed  or  called  in  to  settle  matters  as  to  which  such 
committees  cannot  agree.  The  most  conspicuous  manifestation  of 
the  movement  in  favor  of  more  harmonious  relations  between  em- 
ployers and  employees  is  found  in  the  systems  of  conferences  and 
joint  agreements  covering  trades  throughout  the  entire  country, 
or  throughout  large  sections.  Although  conciliation  and  arbitration 
regarding  minor  disputes  arising  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  labor 
contract  are  usually  found  in  connection  with  systems  of  collective 
bargaining  for  the  determination  of  the  contract  itself,  there  are 
frequently  individual  disputes  which  are  referred  to  arbitration  by 
private  individuals  in  the  absence  of  formal  arrangements  for  collec- 
tive bargaining.  Still  more  frequently,  probably,  are  matters  re- 
ferred to  arbitration  in  trades  where  workingmen  are  organized,  but 
where  they  do  not  ordinarily  carry  on  collective  bargaining  in  a 
systematic  manner  with  the  employers.  In  Great  Britain  the  ma- 
chinery for  arbitration  of  industrial  disputes,  particularly  through 
the  method  of  joint  boards,  is  of  earlier  origin,  wider  extent,  and  more 
systematic  character,  than  in  the  United  States.  (See  COMPULSORY 
ARBITRATION;  TRADE  ARBITRATION;  CONTINUOUS  ARBITRATION; 
COMPULSORY  INVESTIGATION;  MEDIATION;  with  all  cross  references 
under  these  headings.  See  also,  RAILWAY  LABOR  BOARD;  NATIONAL 
ADJUSTMENT  COMMISSION;  NATIONAL  WAR  LABOR  BOARD;  NATIONAL 
ADJUSTMENT  BOARD.) 

Arbitration  Boards  or  Arbitration  Committees.    See  TRADE 
ARBITRATION. 

Arbitration  within  the  Trade.     See  TRADE  ARBITRATION. 

Arbitrator.  A  presumably  impartial  "outsider,"  appointed 
either  by  the  consent  of  the  two  parties  involved  or  by  superior  author- 
ity, who  acts  as  a  judge  in  deciding  the  merits  of  an  industrial  dispute. 
He  inquires  into  the  facts  of  the  case,  receives  evidence  from  both 
sides,  and  then  hands  down  a  decision  or  award  in  settlement  of  the 
dispute.  While  the  terms  "arbitrator"  and  "MEDIATOR"  should  be 
carefully  differentiated,  it  may  be  noted  that  the  tactful  and  ex- 
perienced arbitrator  often  acts  largely  in  the  capacity  of  a  mediator. 
2  [21] 


That  is  to  say,  through  a  process  of  narrowing  down  the  points  at 
issue  he  may  gradually  and  imperceptibly  force  each  disputant  to 
a  recognition  of  such  justice  as  may  lie  in  the  other's  case;  so  that 
his  award,  when  it  is  finally  given,  is  likely  to  be  accepted  by  both 
parties  as  inevitable.  (See  ARBITRATION.) 

Argentine  Federation  of  Labor.  See  FEDERACION  OBRERA 
REGIONAL  ARGENTINA. 

Aristocracy  of  Labor.  The  skilled  artisan  class,  as  represented 
in  the  larger  and  stronger  CRAFT  UNIONS,  is  often  so  called.  (See 

CORPORATISME.) 

Armed  Guards  or  Company  Guards.  In  connection  with 
STRIKES  and  other  serious  labor  disputes,  it  has  been  a  common 
practice  of  large  American  industrial  corporations  to  employ  a  corps 
of  armed  men — often  provided  by  LABOR  DETECTIVE  AGENCIES — 
who  patrol  the  plant  and  grounds  of  the  corporation  and  operate 
under  its  direction  in  endeavoring  to  "break"  the  strike.  This 
system  of  substituting  private  for  public  police  authority  has  led 
to  many  bloody  incidents  in  the  past,  and  is  probably  the  most 
common  source  of  violence  in  labor  disputes.  In  recognition  of  this 
fact,  a  number  of  states  in  this  country  have  enacted  laws  forbidding 
the  private  importation  of  armed  men  from  other  states  for  the 
protection  of  property.  In  three  or  four  states  the  employment  of 
armed  bodies  of  men  under  private  control  is  specifically  declared 
illegal.  But  in  a  community  where  the  local  authorities  are  in 
sympathy  with  the  corporation,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  obviously 
illegal  status  of  armed  guards  may  be  overcome  by  the  simple  process 
of  having  them  "sworn  in"  as  "special  deputies,"  "special  police," 
or  members  of  the  state  militia.  Armed  guards  are  usually  referred 
to  as  "gunmen"  among  the  working  classes.  (See  POLICING  OF 
INDUSTRY;  VIOLENCE  IN  THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Arsenal  Plan.  A  successful  plan  of  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION 
introduced  in  1918  in  the  Federal  arsenal  at  Rock  Island,  111.  The 
men  selected  an  advisory  committee  to  cooperate  with  the  War 
Department,  were  permitted  to  choose  their  own  foremen,  and  had 
part  in  fixing  PIECE  WORK  prices.  Main  emphasis  in  the  "arsenal 
plan"  is  placed  upon  the  workers'  joint  responsibility  with  the 
management  in  increasing  the  output;  hence  when  contracts  were 
under  consideration  the  workers  were  fully  consulted  in  regard  to 
the  costs  and  conditions  under  which  the  work  must  be  executed. 

[22] 


Artel .  A  Russian  word  meaning ' '  gang ' ' ;  originally  a  transitory 
body  of  Russian  workmen,  of  any  number,  coming  together  to  under- 
take a  particular  piece  of  work  in  cooperation  and  dividing  the 
joint  profits.  More  recently  in  Russia  the  term  chiefly  denoted  a 
permanent  trade  organization,  with  collective  responsibility  for  its 
individual  members.  (See  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT.) 

Asiatic  Barred  Zone.  The  Federal  IMMIGRATION  act  of  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1917,  provides  in- part  for  the  exclusion  from  the  United 
States  of  natives  of  the  continent  of  Asia  and  adjacent  islands  lying 
within  certain  specified  meridians  of  longitude  and  parallels  of  lati- 
tude. The  "barred  zone"  thus  described  includes  India,  Siam, 
Indo-China,  parts  of  Siberia,  Afghanistan,  and  Arabia,  the  islands  of 
Java,  Sumatra,  Ceylon,  Borneo,  New  Guinea,  Celebes,  and  various 
lesser  groups.  Exception  is  made  in  favor  of  government  officials, 
travellers  for  curiosity  or  pleasure,  and  persons  of  certain  specified 
professional  classes,  so  that  in  effect  laborers  only  are  prohibited. 
The  actual  boundaries  of  the  barred  zone  include  a  portion  of  China, 
but  the  act  provides  that  where  immigration  regulation — or  rather 
exclusion — is  "provided  for  by  existing  treaties"  the  geographical 
exclusion  is  not  applicable;  hence  China  is  not  within  its  scope. 
(See  CHINESE  EXCLUSION  LAWS.) 

Assignment  of  Wages.     See  WAGE  EXEMPTION. 
Assistance  Fund.     See  STRIKE  FUND. 

Assisted  Immigration.  This  term  is  often  used  in  a  sense 
synonymous  with  INDUCED  IMMIGRATION,  but  it  refers  more  properly 
to  that  class  of  immigrants  who  receive  financial  assistance  (either 
from  their  relatives  already  in  this  country,  or  from  various  public 
or  private  sources)  in  making  their  way  to  the  United  States. 

Associated  Standard  Recognized  Railroad  Labor  Organ- 
izations. See  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS. 

Association  or  Associationism.  An  Americanized  form  of 
FOURIERISM,  introduced  into  the  United  States  in  1834  by  Albert 
Brisbane.  Several  definite  experiments  made  by  Brisbane  and  his 
fellow  "  associationists "  on  the  main  lines  laid  down  by  Fourier 
resulted  in  failure. 

Association  Ouvrifcre.  In  France,  an  association  of  working- 
men  for  other  than  ordinary  trade  union  purposes. 

[23] 


Associationism.     See  ASSOCIATION. 

Associations  Ouvrieres  de  Production  (Working-Men's  As- 
sociations of  Production).  French  societies  of  workers  engaged  in 
cooperative  production.  Such  societies  are  now  of  considerable 
number  and  influence,  particularly  in  the  building  trades.  While 
they  vary  in  type,  they  are  in  the  main  combinations  of  workmen 
formed  to  carry  on  their  industries  with  their  own  capital  or  that  of 
their  trade  unions,  assisted  by  a  government  subvention.  The  law 
governing  such  societies  provides  (i)  that  public  contracts  shall 
be  split  up  into  such  size  that  associations  of  workmen  can  bid  on 
them;  (2)  that  such  associations  shall  not  be  obliged  to  deposit  any 
guarantee  when  the  contract  is  under  a  certain  amount;  (3)  that 
workingmen's  associations  shall  be  given  the  preference  when  bids 
are  equal ;  and  (4)  that  payments  shall  be  made  to  such  associations 
every  fifteen  days.  The  government  printing  of  France  has  for 
many  years  been  done  by  these  so-called  "cooperative  companion- 
ships." Several  hundred  of  these  societies  are  federated  in  the 
Chambre  Consultative  des  Associations  Ouvrieres  de  Production,  which 
looks  after  their  general  business  and  legal  interests,  carries  on  educa- 
tional and  propaganda  work,  etc.  (See  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT.) 

Assumer.     See  ENTREPRENEUR. 
Assumption  of  Risk.     See  EMPLOYER'S  LIABILITY. 
Attachment  of  Wages.     See  WAGE  EXEMPTION. 
Attack  Strike.     See  LOCKOUT. 

Auchmuty  System.  A  method  of  TRADE  SCHOOL  instruction 
named  after  Colonel  Richard  T.  Auchmuty,  founder  (in  1881)  of 
the  New  York  Trade  School.  The  student  is  at  first  put  on  simple 
work,  but  as  he  acquires  skill  and  workmanlike  qualities  he  is  ad- 
vanced to  work  that  is  more  difficult  and  complicated,  until  he  finally 
becomes  familiar  with  all  the  processes  of  his  trade.  Both  the  prac- 
tical and  the  theoretical  aspects  of  the  trade  are  dealt  with,  "so  that 
not  only  is  skill  quickly  acquired  but  the  scientific  principles  that 
underlie  the  work  are  also  studied."  (See  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION.) 

Australian  Arbitration  Courts.  Most  of  the  Australian 
states  require  the  submission  of  industrial  disputes  to  a  central 
state  arbitration  court,  consisting  generally  of  a  single  judge.  In 
some  cases,  "assessors"  representing  the  two  sides  are  appointed 
to  sit  with  the  judge,  but  nearly  always  the  latter  has  the  power 

[24] 


of  ultimate  decision.  Proceedings  are  conducted  as  in  a  civil  court. 
The  litigants  engage  advocates  and  file  claims  and  replies,  evidence 
is  presented,  witnesses  examined,  etc.  The  court  decision,  when 
rendered,  becomes  the  state  standard  for  the  industry  concerned 
in  the  dispute.  (See  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION.) 

Australian  Labor  Movement.  The  earliest  beginnings  of 
trade  unionism  in  Australia  consisted  in  the  formation  of  local 
branches  of  large  British  unions.  By  1885  there  were  more  than 
a  hundred  trade  unions,  with  a  combined  membership  of  about 
50,000.  Defeat  in  several  strikes  from  1885  to  1890  awakened  the 
workers  to  the  need  for  political  organization,  and  as  a  result  the 
AUSTRALIAN  LABOR  PARTY  was  established  in  1892.  Since  then  the 
labor  movement  in  Australia  has  been  strongly  political  in  character, 
working  for  socialistic  legislation  through  the  Federal  Parliament. 
At  the  present  time  Australian  trade  unionism  is  numerically  strong, 
but  weak  in  organization.  In  1919  there  were  627,685  trade  union- 
ists, or  12.6  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  organized  in  394  unions 
— an  average  of  1,590  members  per  union.  There  is  no  central 
unifying  body  for  Australian  trade  unionism.  In  the  larger  towns 
are  Labor  Councils,  which  secure  some  measure  of  coordination; 
and  sometimes  these  Labor  Councils  in  a  state  capital,  such  as 
Sydney,  receive  affiliations  from  other  parts  of  the  state.  But  even 
these  latter  Councils  are  seldom  fully  representative,  and  their 
function  is  deliberative  and  advisory,  rather  than  executive.  Some 
of  the  larger  unions,  organized  on  a  national  or  inter-state  basis,  are 
not  affiliated  with  the  Councils.  The  inter-State  conferences,  held  at 
irregular  intervals,  are  of  similar  character  to  the  Councils.  The 
ONE  BIG  UNION  idea  has  come  to  play  a  considerable  part  in  the 
Australian  labor  movement  of  late — both  generally,  within  the 
trade  unions,  and  more  specifically  in  the  WORKERS'  INDUSTRIAL 
UNION.  Although  the  AUSTRALIAN  WORKERS'  UNION  also  claims 
to  embody  the  One  Big  Union  principle,  it  opposes  the  more  revolu- 
tionary Workers'  Industrial  Union. 

Australian  Labor  Party.  Organized  in  1892,  largely  as  a 
result  of  the  great  maritime  strike  of  1890,  in  which  the  workers 
had  suffered  defeat.  In  1893  twenty-four  representatives  of  the 
Labor  Party  were  elected  to  the  New  South  Wales  legislature,  and 
from  that  time  the  movement  steadily  grew.  The  Labor  Party  has 
since  been  in  control  of  affairs  at  various  periods  in  every  legislature 
and  in  the  national  government.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it  had 
reached  its  high  water  mark,  every  state  with  the  exception  of 

[25] 


Victoria  having  a  labor  government,  while  in  the  Federal  government 
labor  was  in  the  majority.  The  Labor  Party's  programme  is  mainly 
socialistic,  though  it  includes  a  considerable  measure  of  nationalism 
also.  In  actual  structure,  the  Party  is  a  loose  federation  of  the  six 
state  parties,  each  of  which  is  practically  independent.  Each  de- 
termines its  own  state  policy,  and  sends  delegates  to  a  Federal 
conference.  The  Federal  conference  defines  a  Federal  platform  and 
appoints  a  Federal  executive;  but  the  latter,  since  it  meets  infre- 
quently and  has  no  funds,  has  little  power.  The  real  strength  lies 
in  the  regular  support  of  the  trade  unions,  which  are  affiliated  sepa- 
rately in  the  various  states.  The  trade  unions  also  own  most  of  the 
labor  press.  (See  AUSTRALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Australian  Workers'  Union.  An  organization  devoted  to 
the  principles  of  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM  "on  sane  lines  suitable  to 
Australian  circumstances  and  conditions."  It  opposes  the  more 
revolutionary  industrial  unionism  advocated  by  the  WORKERS' 
INDUSTRIAL  UNION  OF  AUSTRALIA,  although  like  that  body  it  claims 
to  be  committed  to  the  ONE  BIG  UNION  principle.  (See  AUSTRALIAN 
LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Austrian  Central  Trade  Union  Commission.     See  GEWERK- 

SCHAFTSKOMMISSION   DEUTSCHOSTERREICHS. 

Austrian  Social   Democratic  Labor  Party.     See  GEWERK- 

SCHAFTSKOMMISSION  Dfi UTSCHOSTERREICHS. 

Austrian  Works  Councils.  Under  a  law  which  came  into 
force  July  25,  1919,  the  election  of  WORKS  COUNCILS  in  all  Austrian 
factories  and  other  establishments  where  at  least  twenty  wage- 
earners  are  employed  continuously  is  obligatory.  These  councils 
conclude,  maintain,  and  interpret  collective  agreements,  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  trade  unions;  fix  wages;  supervise  the  enforcement 
of  protective  LABOR  LEGISLATION  and  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  laws;  co- 
operate in  maintaining  DISCIPLINE  ;  participate  in  the  management  of 
WELFARE  WORK;  etc.  In  commercial  establishments  where  at  least 
thirty  salaried  employees  and  manual  workers  are  employed,  as  well 
as  in  all  factories  and  mines,  the  works  council  is  entitled  to  demand 
that  a  balance  sheet  shall  be  submitted  to  it  once  a  year,  together 
with  a  profit  and  loss  account  and  statistics  of  wages.  In  joint  stock 
companies  the  council  is  entitled  to  elect  two  members  of  the  board 
of  directors. 

Authoritarian  Socialism.    See  STATE  SOCIALISM. 

[26] 


Autonomy.  In  labor  affairs,  this  term  denotes  the  right  of 
self-government  and  independent  action  on  the  part  of  a  trade 
union,  with  respect  to  other  unions  or  to  federations  of  unions.  "Local 
autonomy"  refers  to  such  right  on  the  part  of  a  local  union  in  respect 
to  a  national  union;  while  "national  autonomy"  refers  to  the  same 
right  on  the  part  of  a  national  union  in  respect  to  other  national 
unions  or  to  federations  of  national  unions.  "Trade  autonomy" 
or  "craft  autonomy"  is  the  right  of  independent  action  and  control 
on  the  part  of  a  trade  union  in  respect  to  a  particular  trade  or  craft 
within  an  industry.  (See  SECTIONALISM;  CENTRALIZATION.) 

Award.  In  labor  affairs,  the  decision  of  an  ARBITRATION 
agency  in  settlement  of  an  industrial  dispute.  If,  under  the  terms 
of  the  arbitration  agreement,  the  contending  parties  are  free  to  accept 
or  reject  the  award,  as  they  choose,  the  result  is  called  a  voluntary 
award.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  stipulated  in  advance  that  the 
award  shall  be  binding  on  the  contending  parties  for  a  specified 
time,  the  result  is  a  compulsory  award. 


B 


B.  L.  P.     See  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY. 

Bad  Spinning.  This  term  is  most  commonly  used  in  connec- 
tion with  a  class  of  disputes,  frequent  in  the  British  cotton  industry, 
arising  from  workers'  claims  that  the  cotton  supplied  them  was  of 
such  bad  quality  that  they  could  not  earn  the  standard  rate  at 
"list"  prices.  The  BROOKLANDS  AGREEMENT  broke  down  over 
this  point  in  1912. 

Bad  Timekeeping.     See  CLOCKING. 

Barred  Zone  Provision.     See  ASIATIC  BARRED  ZONE. 

Base  Rate.  In  connection  with  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT, 
this  is  the  regular  or  ordinary  day  wage  which  is  usually  guaranteed 
to  an  individual  worker  regardless  of  whether  he  attains  the  standard 
TASK. 

Base  Time.  In  connection  with  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT, 
this  is  the  usual  or  average  amount  of  time  required  for  turning  out 
a  given  quantity  of  individual  work.  Unlike  what  is  called  the 
TASK  TIME,  it  is  determined  mainly  by  estimates  and  averages  drawn 
from  past  shop  records,  rather  than  by  detailed  TIME  AND  MOTION 
STUDY. 

Basic  Eight -Hour  Day.    See  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY. 
Bedroom  Shop.     See  ONE-MAN  SHOP. 

Belgian  General  Federation  of  Christian  and  Free  Trade 
Unions.  See  BELGIAN  TRADE  UNIONS. 

Belgian  Labor  Party.     See  PARTI  OUVRIER  BELGE. 

Belgian  Trade  Union  Commission.  See  COMMISSION  SYN- 
DICALE  BELGE. 

Belgian  Trade  Unions.  As  in  Germany,  the  trade  unions  of 
Belgium  are  chiefly  of  two  kinds:  (i)  Socialist,  or  Social  Demo- 
cratic, organizations;  and  (2)  Christian,  or  Catholic  Democratic 

[28] 


organizations — also  called  "neutral"  unions.  The  Christian  trade 
unions,  however,  are  relatively  more  numerous 'and  powerful  than  in 
Germany,  having  perhaps  200,000  members  as  against  700,000  in 
the  socialist  unions.  Both  the  socialist  and  the  Christian  unions 
are  centralized,  as  in  Germany,  in  a  comparatively  few  strong  na- 
tional unions.  There  is  much  rivalry  between  the  socialist  and  the 
Christian  bodies.  The  former  are  federated  in  the  national  COM- 
MISSION SYNDICALE  BELGE,  and  are  affiliated  with  the  PARTI 
OUVRIER  BELGE  or  Belgian  Labor  Party.  The  Christian  unions 
are  nationally  federated  in  the  Confederation  Generate  des  Syndicats 
Chretiens  et  Libres  de  Belgique.  Before  the  war,  COLLECTIVE  BAR- 
GAINING with  the  labor  unions  prevailed  in  a  few  industries  only. 
Collective  agreements  were  confined  to  local  arrangements  in  minor 
industries,  such  as  the  printing  trades,  quarries,  glass,  diamond- 
cutting,  etc.  They  were  unknown  in  the  main  industries:  coal- 
mining, iron  and  steel,  transportation,  and  (with  some  local  excep- 
tions) textiles.  Now  the  conditions  are  reversed;  collective  bargain- 
ing with  the  unions  is  the  rule  everywhere,  the  autocratic  or  "pater- 
nal" employer  is  the  exception.  This  change  is  due  less  to  a  modi- 
fication of  the  individual  attitude  of  employers  than  to  the  fact  that 
post-war  conditions  have  radically  altered  the  balance  of  power 
between  capitalists  and  workers.  As  industrial  work  was  resumed 
after  the  armistice,  the  workers  flocked  into  the  unions  by  hundreds 
of  thousands.  In  one  year  the  unions  increased  their  membership 
by  about  400  per  cent.  In  Belgium  every  employee  of  a  cooperative 
society  must  be  a  trade  unionist,  and  the  premises  of  the  cooperative 
societies  are  invariably  the  headquarters  of  the  local  or  national 
trade  union,  as  well  as  of  the  local  or  national  committees  of  the 
Labor  Party.  In  an  industrial  dispute,  the  cooperatives  supply 
provisions  for  the  strikers  and  their  families;  and  in  ordinary  times 
they  make  considerable  appropriations  from  their  profits  to  trade 
union  and  socialist  propaganda.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  SYSTEM 
IN  BELGIUM.) 

Bell  Horse.     See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Benefit  Funds.     See  BENEFITS;  ESTABLISHMENT  FUND. 

Benefit  Societies.     See  FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES. 

Benefits.  Payments  made  by  trade  unions,  by  MUTUAL  AID 
SOCIETIES,  or  by  the  State,  in  relief  of  members  of  the  working  class 
under  any  form  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE,  are  usually  so  called;  although 
various  other  terms,  such  as  "pay,"  "donations,"  "allowances," 

[29] 


"relief,"  etc.,  are  often  employed  in  the  same  sense.  A  fairly  com- 
plete list  of  such  payments  would  include  sickness,  death,  accident 
or  other  disability,  superannuation  (old  age  pensions  or  retirement 
allowances),  maternity,  legal  aid,  and  funeral  benefits,  out-of-work 
and  strike  benefits,  travelling  benefits,  compensation  for  loss  of 
tools  by  fire  or  theft,  and  such  less  common  forms  as  MARRIAGE 
BENEFITS  and  VICTIM  PAY.  Of  these  various  forms,  out-of-work  and 
strike  benefits,  travelling  allowances,  compensation  for  tools,  and 
"victim  pay"  are  commonly  classified  as  "trade  benefits,"  being 
paid  as  a  rule  only  by  trade  unions.  The  others  are  known  as ' '  friendly 
benefits,"  and  are  paid  by  both  trade  unions  and  mutual  aid  societies 
— in  some  cases  by  the  State  also.  In  addition  to  the  cash  payments, 
or  "cash  benefits,"  additional  relief  for  sickness,  accident,  maternity, 
etc.,  is  sometimes  provided  in  the  form  of  medical  treatment  and 
supplies,  known  as  "medical  benefits."  Practically  all  the  large 
national  and  international  unions  now  maintain  benefit  funds  in 
one  or  more  forms,  and  strong  benefit  provisions  have  as  a  rule 
become  essential  to  the  making  of  strong  trade  unions.  In  the  case 
of  practically  all  American  trade  unions,  the  funds  are  raised 
as  a  part  of  the  dues  and  assessments  of  members.  In  most  cases 
a  single  sum  is  assessed  as  constituting  the  dues  for  the  week  or  the 
month.  Of  this  amount  a  designated  portion  goes  to  one  fund;  an- 
other portion  to  a  second  fund,  and  so  on  around.  In  such  cases  the 
funds  for  the  several  purposes  are  kept  separate.  In  other  instances 
there  is  but  one  fund  into  which  all  dues  are  paid  and  from  which 
are  taken  the  benefit  payments  provided  for.  The  latter  is  coming 
to  be  the  more  usual  method.  These  funds  are  usually  in  charge  of 
the  general  officers,  the  president,  the  secretary-treasurer,  or  the 
executive  board  or  council.  Reports  are  submitted  and  audited  at 
regular  intervals.  In  some  national  unions,  the  benefits  are  paid 
wholly  by  the  various  local  branches,  in  others  wholly  by  the  central 
organization,  while  in  still  others  some  forms  are  paid  by  the  locals 
and  other  forms  by  the  central  organization.  A  few  of  the  largest 
and  strongest  unions  (notably  the  International  Typographical 
Union  and  some  of  the  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS)  maintain  perma- 
nent .homes  for  sick  or  aged  members  out  of  their  benefit  funds. 
(See  DEATH  BENEFITS;  DISABILITY  BENEFITS;  OUT-OF-WORK  BENE- 
FITS; STRIKE  PAY;  TRAVELLING  BENEFITS;  LEGAL  AID  BENEFIT; 
SHIPWRECK  BENEFIT;  Sou  DU  SOLDAT;  TRADE  PRIVILEGE  BENEFIT; 
ESTABLISHMENT  FUND;  SICKNESS  INSURANCE;  INVALIDITY  INSUR- 
ANCE; MATERNITY  INSURANCE;  MUTUAL  INSURANCE;  OLD  AGE 
INSURANCE;  TOOL  INSURANCE;  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE.) 

[30] 


Benevolent  Feudalism.  This  term  is  sometimes  used  in 
derogatory  designation  of  various  paternalistic  schemes,  ranging 
all  the  way  from  industrial  WELFARE  WORK  to  STATE  SOCIALISM, 
which  are  handed  down  to  labor  from  above  rather  than  gained 
by  labor's  own  efforts;  and  which,  while  perhaps  increasing  the 
welfare  of  the  individual  worker,  tend  rather  to  augment  than  to 
diminish  the  power  of  the  capitalistic  class.  (See  PATERNALISM.) 

Benevolent  Fund.  The  fund  from  which  trade  union  BENEFITS 
are  paid  is  often  so  called.  In  some  unions,  however,  this  is  a  separate 
fund  used  for  relief  of  members  in  special  cases. 

Benevolent  Societies  or  Benevolent  Associations.  See 
MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES. 

Berkshire  System.  A  method  of  TEAM  WORK  once  common  in 
the  iron-molding  industry.  Under  this  system,  each  expert  molder 
employed  a  HELPER,  known  as  a  "Berkshire"  or  "buck,"  who  after 
several  years  of  employment  might  enter  the  trade  as  a  molder. 
Owing  to  the  improvement  of  foundry  machinery,  the  "Berkshire 
system"  (or  "buck  system,"  as  it  was  frequently  called)  has  very 
largely  disappeared. 

Berne  Internationale.     See  INTERNATIONALE. 

Berufsgenossenschaften.  Under  the  German  system  of 
WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION,  these  are  mutual  insurance  associations 
of  employers,  formed  according  to  law  to  provide  collective  respon- 
sibility in  the  payment  of  compensation  claims.  Each  industry  has 
its  own  association,  and  each  association  pays  the  claims  of  work- 
ingmen  employed  by  its  own  members.  "The  members  of  each  asso- 
ciation are  annually  assessed,  according  to  the  size  of  their  pay 
rolls  and  the  hazards  of  their  business,  at  a  rate  sufficient  to  pay  the 
death  claims,  the  benefits  to  temporarily  disabled  workmen,  and  the 
pensions  to  entirely  incapacitated  workmen  and  the  families  of 
employees  killed  by  accident.  The  assessments  must  also  cover  the 
administrative  expenses  of  the  association,  which  include  the  salaries 
of  a  large  number  of  engineering  and  mechanical  experts  employed 
by  the  associations  to  inspect  the  factories  of  members  and  see  that 
the  best  appliances  are  bought  and  used  for  safeguarding  dangerous 
machinery." 

Betriebsobmann  (Works  Steward).  See  GERMAN  WORKS 
COUNCILS  LAW. 

[31] 


Betriebsrat  or  Betriebsarbeiterrat  (Works  Council).  See 
GERMAN  WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Betriebsrategesetz  (Works  Councils  Law).  See  GERMAN 
WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Betriebsversammlung  (Works  Assembly).  See  GERMAN 
WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Bezirksarbeiterrat  (District  Workers'  Council).  See  GERMAN 
WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Bezirkswirtschaftsrat  (District  Economic  Council).  See 
REICHSWIRTSCHAFTSRAT. 

Big  Four.     See  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS. 

Big  Six.  A  common  nickname  for  "Typographical  Union  No. 
6,"  the  New  York  City  branch  of  the  International  Typographical 
Union  of  North  America.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest,  largest,  and 
most  influential  LOCALS  in  the  country.  Horace  Greeley  was  its 
president  in  1850. 

Bill  of  Prices.     See  PRICE  LIST. 

Birds  of  Passage.  This  term  is  commonly  applied  to  those 
immigrants  from  Europe,  Canada,  Mexico,  etc.,  who  come  to  the 
United  States  with  no  intention  of  permanently  settling  here,  but 
merely  to  earn  enough  money  to  enable  them  to  return  to  their  native 
countries  and  live  there  in  comparative  comfort  upon  their  savings. 
They  constitute  a  considerable  percentage  of  all  immigrants,  and 
create  some  of  the  most  serious  social  and  economic  problems  con- 
nected with  IMMIGRATION.  (See  HARVESTERS.) 

Birmingham  Alliances.  The  name  commonly  given  to  cer- 
tain compacts  between  employers  and  workers  in  six  branches  of 
the  light  metal  trades  of  Birmingham,  England.  These  alliances 
are  based  on  EXCLUSIVE  AGREEMENTS,  and  selling  prices  of  the  product 
are  fixed  by  a  joint  "wages  board"  of  employers'  and  workers' 
representatives  in  equal  number. 

Bisbee  Deportations.  During  a  strike  in  some  of  the  Arizona 
copper  mines,  nearly  1,200  workmen  of  Bisbee  were  rounded  up  on 
July  12,  1917,  by  armed  mine  officials  and  other  members  of  a  so- 
called  Loyalty  League,  packed  into  freight  cars,  and  deported  across 
the  border  into  New  Mexico,  where  they  were  left  marooned  on  the 
desert.  After  thorough  investigation  by  the  Federal  government, 

[32] 


a  report  was  issued  condemning  the  act  as  a  flagrant  violation  of 
elementary  Constitutional  rights;  and  on  the  basis  of  this  report 
criminal  proceedings  were  instituted  by  the  Federal  and  state  authori- 
ties against  the  mine  owners  and  others  who  were  responsible  for 
this  act;  but  both  prosecutions  have  so  far  failed.  In  his  book  on 
"War-Time  Strikes,"  Alexander  M.  Bing  (an  American  employer) 
characterizes  the  Bisbee  deportations  as  "probably  the  most  deplor- 
able act  of  industrial  violence  which  has  occurred  in  the  history  of 
our  country."  (See  VIOLENCE  IN  THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Black.  In  connection  with  European  public  affairs,  the  adjec- 
tive "black"  is  sometimes  applied  to  anarchist  and  sometimes  to 
Catholic  movements,  organizations,  etc. — in  either  case,  of  course, 
by  their  opponents.  The  members  of  such  organizations  are  often 
referred  to  as  "blacks."  (See  BLACK  UNIONS.) 

Black  Money  or  Dirty  Money.  In  certain  British  trades 
which  involve  special  unpleasantness  or  injury  to  clothing,  this  is 
an  extra  payment,  generally  stipulated  in  the  WORKING  RULES, 
made  because  of  the  nature  of  the  work.  Thus,  boilermakers  and 
engineers  working  on  oil-carrying  vessels  usually  receive  "black 
money." 

Black  Unions.  The  separate  organizations  of  Roman  Catholic 
workers  found  in  several  European  countries — notably  Germany, 
Holland,  Belgium,  and  Italy — are. sometimes  so  called.  (See  BLACK; 
ITALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Blackcoated  Proletariat.     See  BLACKCOATS. 

Blackcoats.  As  used  in  British  labor  circles  this  term  denotes 
the  middle-class  salaried  workers,  such  as  clerks,  shop  assistants, 
government  employees,  teachers,  technicians,  life  insurance  agents, 
etc.  The  development  of  trade  union  organization  among  the 
"blackcoats"  during  the  last  decade  has  been  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able facts  in  British  labor  history.  Nearly  750,000  of  such  workers 
are  now  members  of  various  unions,  which  for  the  most  part  are 
directly  affiliated  with  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY  and  the  TRADES 
UNION  CONGRESS.  Also  called  the  "blackcoated  proletariat."  (See 
SALARIAT;  WHITE  COLLARS;  MIDDLE  CLASS  UNIONS.) 

Blackleg.  In  British  labor  parlance,  the  common  equivalent 
for  the  American  SCAB — ordinarily  a  worker  who  is  hostile  to  trade 
unionism  or  who  acts  in  opposition  to  trade  union  interests,  especially 
in  helping  to  defeat  a  strike.  British  workmen  also  use  the  word 

[33] 


"scab"  in  this  sense,  but  the  latter  term  is  far  more  common  among 
American  trade  unionists.  As  in  the  case  of  "scab,"  "blackleg"  is 
also  used  as  a  verb  and  an  adjective.  " Blacklegging "  or  "to  black- 
leg" refers  to  any  action  in  opposition  to  trade  union  policies  or 
methods — more  specifically,  to  taking  the  places  of  union  strikers 
or  otherwise  helping  to  break  down  a  strike.  "Blackleg  goods"  are 
those  produced  or  handled  by  blacklegs;  while  a  "blackleg  organiza- 
tion" may  be  either  an  employers'  association  devoted  largely  to 
STRIKEBREAKING  activities,  or  (as  sometimes  happens)  a  rival  union 
which  actively  or  passively  helps  to  defeat  a  strike.  An  earlier  term 
with  the  same  connotations  as  "blackleg"  is  "knobstick,"  which  is 
still  occasionally  used ;  and  these  two  terms  have  evidently  been  com- 
bined to  produce  "blacknob,"  another  not  uncommon  variant. 
Finally,  it  should  be  mentioned  that  blacklegs  are  often  spoken  of 
simply  as  "blacks."  (See  FREE  LABORERS.) 

Blacklist.  In  its  simplest  form,  a  list  of  names  privately 
circulated  among  employers  for  the  purpose  of  jointly  refusing 
employment  to  union  workmen  in  general  or  to  individual  workers 
who  are  held  in  disfavor.  Most  of  the  states  of  the  American  union 
have  laws  prohibiting  blacklisting,  but  all  such  laws  are  practically 
dead  letters.  The  open  circulation  of  blacklists  may  be  effectually 
restrained,  yet  numerous  other  methods  of  accomplishing  the  desired 
object  have  been  devised  and  successfully  used  by  employers.  The 
blacklist  has  thus  become  a  powerful  weapon  in  combating  organ- 
ized labor.  According  to  the  Report  of  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL 
COMMISSION,  "witnesses  representing  labor  without  exception  de- 
nounce the  blacklist  as  unjust.  They  hold  that,  while  it  may  be  proper 
for  employers  to  warn  one  another  against  conspicuously  dishonest, 
unfaithful,  or  incompetent  employees,  it  is  in  derogation  of  the  rights 
of  individual  workingmen  and  of  the  working  class,  that  men  whose 
only  offense  is  loyalty  to  a  labor  organization  or  participation  in  a 
strike,  should  have  their  names  blacklisted  by  associated  employers 
so  as  to  render  it  practically  impossible  for  them  to  secure  work. 
The  effect  of  the  blacklist  is  ordinarily  immensely  more  injurious 
to  the  men  concerned  than  a  BOYCOTT,  which  is  the  counter  weapon 
to  the  blacklist,  could  be  to  an  employer.  At  the  most,  only  a  frac- 
tion of  the  customers  of  a  boycotted  establishment  will  withdraw 
their  patronage  as  the  result  of  a  boycott,  while  all  the  employers 
in  a  given  industry  in  a  particular  section  of  the  country  have  at 
times  confederated  to  prevent  blacklisted  men  from  getting  em- 
ployment, so  that  they  have  been  practically  forced  to  leave  the 

[34] 


trade  altogether.  .  .  .  The  circulation  of  lists  of  employees  can  not 
readily  be  ascertained,  and  the  workingman  who  is  refused  a  place 
can  not  know  that  a  blacklist  is  the  reason  for  such  refusal.  It  is 
complained  also  that  when  workingmen  are  discharged  they  are  some- 
times given  letters  stating  the  fact  of  their  employment,  and  possibly 
including  a  formal  recommendation,  but  with  secret  marks  or  other 
indications  to  show  that  the  men  are  to  be  considered  objectionable. 
The  principal  complaint  of  such  methods  comes  from  railroad  em- 
ployees and  from  coal  miners.  It  seems  to  be  generally  believed, 
however,  that  the  more  formal  and  direct  methods  of  blacklisting 
have  largely  disappeared."  (See  CLEARANCE  LETTER;  LEAVING 
CERTIFICATE;  WHITELIST;  UNFAIR  LIST;  DISCHARGE  BOOK  SYS- 
TEM; RUSTLING  CARD;  PERSONAL  RECORD  SYSTEM.) 

Blacknob.     See  BLACKLEG. 
Blacks.     See  BLACK;  BLACKLEG. 
Blank.     See  TRAVELLING  CARD. 

Blanket  Injunction.  This  form  of  INJUNCTION,  which  is 
particularly  criticized  by  organized  labor,  consists  in  a  court  writ 
directed  not  merely  against  specified  persons,  parties  to  a  dispute, 
but  against  unnamed  persons,  and  even  against  all  persons  in  general. 
In  the  famous  DEBS  CASE,  for  example,  the  injunction  issued  was  by 
its  terms  made  binding  upon  "all  other  persons  whatsoever  who  are 
not  named  herein  from  and  after  the  time  when  they  shall  severally 
have  knowledge  of  such  order."  It  has  been  objected  by  labor  lead- 
ers and  others  that  all  court  traditions  and  rules  have  required  that 
each  person  affected  by  an  order  of  court  shall  be  specifically  named 
and  shall  have  the  order  served  personally  upon  him.  The  courts 
have  usually  treated  this  criticism  lightly,  declaring  that  it  is  as 
proper  to  issue  an  injunction  against  many  persons  as  against  one, 
and  that  there  must  be  no  inadequacy  in  equity  remedies  because 
of  technical  points.  This  was  the  position  taken  by  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  in  the  Debs  case.  The  blanket  injunction 
is  occasionally  referred  to  under  the  name  of  "omnibus  injunction." 

Blanket  Stiff.  A  common  nickname  for  a  migratory  worker 
or  tramp  in  the  Northwest,  often  a  member  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  who 
travels  about  with  no  other  personal  belongings  than  his  clothes 
and  a  blanket.  (See  STIFF.) 

Blind  Alley  Occupations.  Those  forms  of  employment  which 
offer  no  possibility  of  promotion  or  advancement  to  the  workers 

[35] 


— those  which,  like  a  "blind  alley,"  lead  nowhere.  The  French 
term  "cul-de-sac"  is  also  often  used  in  this  connection.  Most  of 
the  industrial  occupations  of  children,  and  many  of  those  followed 
by  women,  are  of  the  "blind  alley"  or  "cul-de-sac"  variety. 

Block  Representation.     See  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION. 

Block  Vote.  Refers  to  the  method,  commonly  adopted  in 
labor  congresses,  conventions,  etc.,  by  which  the  voting  strength 
of  each  delegate  is  proportioned  to  the  number  of  members  which 
he  represents.  Thus,  in  the  annual  conventions  of  the  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  each  delegate  is  ordinarily  entitled  to  cast 
one  vote  on  any  important  measure  for  every  one  hundred  members 
or  major  fraction  thereof  whom  he  represents.  Votes  on  less  important 
measures  are  usually  taken  by  a  show  of  hands.  (See  VOTING  BY 
CARD.) 

Board  of  Business  Agents.     See  BUILDING  TRADES  COUNCILS. 

Boards  of  Reference.  See  COMMONWEALTH  COURT  OF  ARBI- 
TRATION AND  CONCILIATION. 

Bo  hunk.     See  HUNKY. 

Bolshevik  Internationale.     See  COMMUNIST  INTERNATIONALE. 

Bolshevism.  In  its  only  accurate  sense,  this  term  denotes  the 
political,  social,  and  economic  theories  and  practice  of  the  Bolsheviki, 
or  Russian  Communist  Party,  comprising  the  revolutionary  socialists 
of  Russia  who  overthrew  Kerensky's  provisional  government  in 
November,  1917,  established  the  present  Soviet  government,  and 
have  remained  in  power  ever  since.  In  rough  translation,  the  name 
Bolsheviki  means  "adherents  of  the  majority";  opposed  to  them 
are  the  Mensheviki,  or  "adherents  of  the  minority."  The  two  groups 
resulted  from  a  split  in  the  Russian  Social  Democratic  Party 
in  1905.  After  1917  the  Bolsheviki  officially  changed  the  name  of 
their  organization  to  the  Russian  Communist  Party.  The  funda- 
mental distinction  of  the  Bolsheviki  from  the  opportunist  socialists, 
or  Mensheviki,  is  in  their  unwavering  advocacy  of  the  CLASS  STRUG- 
GLE, and  in  their  consequent  belief  that  during  the  transition  period 
between  a  capitalistic  and  a  socialistic  regime  the  opposition  between 
the  classes  makes  it  necessary  that  the  power  of  the  State  should  lie 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  "producers" — by  which  term  they 
designate  not  manual  laborers  only,  but  doctors,  teachers,  scientists, 
technical  experts,  soldiers,  artists,  and  all  others  who  make  some 

[36] 


definite  contribution  to  the  necessary  industrial  and  cultural  activi- 
ties of  society  and  the  maintenance  of  the  State.  Starting  out  as 
uncompromising  disciples  of  Karl  Marx,  the  Bolsheviki  have  been 
forced  in  practice  to  modify  or  discard  some  of  the  most  important 
tenets  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM.  Although  in  full  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment, they  represent  but  a  comparatively  small  minority  of  the 
Russian  people.  In  view  of  the  popular  idea  that  Bolshevism  is 
synonymous  with  ANARCHISM,  it  may  be  noted  that  next  to  the  ex- 
propriated aristocracy  the  bitterest  opponents  of  the  Bolsheviki 
in  Russia  are  members  of  the  anarchist  group.  In  the  realm  of 
propaganda  rather  than  of  fact,  Bolshevism  is  a  common  epithet 
applied  to  any  unorthodox  social  or  economic  views,  the  purpose  being 
to  discredit  such  views  without  going  to  the  trouble  of  refuting  them. 
(See  SOVIET  SYSTEM;  PARLOR  BOLSHEVISM.) 

Bombacci  Plan.  A  provisional  scheme  for  the  establishment 
of  a  SOVIET  SYSTEM  within  the  present  industrial  and  political  organi- 
zation of  Italy;  drawn  up  by  Signor  N.  Bombacci,  political  secretary 
of  the  Italian  Socialist  Party,  and  officially  accepted  at  that  Party's 
national  Congress  early  in  1920.  Following  the  broad  outlines  of 
the  Russian  system,  it  contemplates  a  national  network  of  Soviets 
— above  and  beyond  the  present  factory  councils — which  shall 
prepare  themselves  to  be  the  organs  of  revolutionary  defense  and 
administration  in  the  new  "proletarian  State"  when  the  social 
revolution  comes.  But  its  particular  preoccupation  is  to  preserve 
the  authority  of  the  Italian  Socialist  Party,  as  advance  guard  of  the 
revolution,  working  within  the  soviet  system. 

Bonus  System.  Whileoften  used  in  designation  of  the  PREMIUM 
BONUS  SYSTEM  and  other  specialized  forms  of  wage  payment  under 
SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  strictly  speaking  this  is  merely  a  simple 
variant  or  extension  of  either  the  TIME  WORK  or  the  PIECE  WORK 
system.  It  consists,  in  essence,  in  the  payment  of  the  ordinary 
time  or  piece  rate,  and  in  addition  thereto  a  certain  specified  sum 
when  the  worker  reaches  or  exceeds  a  specified  amount  of  output. 
Bonus  systems  may  be  either  individual  or  collective :  the  individual 
worker  may  be  paid  a  bonus  on  his  or  her  individual  ouput  over  a 
period  of  time  or  on  a  particular  job,  or  a  group  of  workers  may  be 
paid  a  collective  bonus  on  their  total  output.  According  to  G.  D. 
H.  Cole,  "the  commonest  type  of  individual  bonus  system  is  one 
under  which  the  bonus  begins  when  a  specified  output  has  been 
reached.  Under  this  system  the  worker  is  paid  a  time-rate,  and  to 
this  time-rate  there  corresponds  a  certain  nominal  TASK,  which, 

3  [37] 


however,  is  not  enforced  as  a  minimum.  Until  this  task  has  been 
accomplished  no  bonus  is  paid;  but  on  all  output  over  and  above 
the  given  task  a  certain  bonus  per  piece  is  added  to  the  worker's 
earnings.  Or,  in  other  cases,  a  lump  sum  is  paid  as  a  bonus  to  all 
workers  who  reach  the  standard  output.  This  is  an  instance  of  an 
individual  bonus  system  superimposed  upon  time-work  conditions. 
Another  system  is  one  in  which  the  bonus  is  superimposed  upon 
piece-work.  The  worker  is  paid  a  piece-work  price  on  his  or  her 
output,  but  again  when  the  output  reaches  a  certain  level  per  hour  or 
per  week,  a  bonus  is  added  either  on  the  whole  of  the  earnings,  or 
on  all  additional  production  over  and  above  the  stipulated  standard 
output."  In  either  case,  the  point  at  which  the  bonus  begins  is  gen- 
erally determined  by  past  working  records,  by  a  workshop  average, 
or  by  the  arbitrary  judgment  of  employer  or  foreman,  rather  than 
by  any  "scientific"  analysis  on  the  basis  of  TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY. 
In  addition  to  the  above,  bonuses  may  be  granted  for  time-keeping, 
diligence,  good  conduct,  etc.,  and  also  deductions  may  be  made  for 
spoilt  work  and  for  misdemeanors.  (See  COLLECTIVE  BONUS  SYSTEM  ; 
DIFFERENTIAL  PIECE  RATE  SYSTEM;  EFFICIENCY  PAYMENTS;  RE- 
WARD SYSTEMS.) 

Boomers.    See  MIGRATORY  LABOR. 

Boring  from  Within.  Denotes  the  effort  to  gain  control  of 
an  organization  by  becoming  a  fully  participating  member  and  en- 
deavoring to  mould  or  revolutionize  its  policies  from  the  inside. 
With  particular  reference  to  the  REVOLUTIONARY  LABOR  MOVEMENT, 
it  denotes  the  policy,  on  the  part  of  individuals  in  that  movement, 
of  becoming  members  of  the  more  conservative  labor  bodies  and  then 
agitating  as  members  for  the  adoption  of  radical  aims  and  principles. 
In  the  French  syndicalist  movement,  where  it  has  been  generally 
adopted  with  much  success,  this  policy  is  designated  la  penetration. 
The  opposite  policy  is  that  commonly  known  as  DUAL  UNIONISM — 
called  by  the  French  syndicalists  la  prcssion  exttrteure,  and  by  the 
I.  W.  W.  "hammering  from  without." 

Boss.  In  a  labor  sense,  one  who  employs  or  superintends 
workers ;  a  head  man,  foreman,  or  manager.  The  word  is  derived  from 
baas,  used  by  the  early  Dutch  settlers  in  New  York  to  designate 
a  foreman  or  master.  The  term  "sub-boss"  is  sometimes  used  in 
differentiation  of  a  foreman  or  superintendent  from  the  actual 
.employer.  A  BUSINESS  AGENT  or  other  union  official  who  wields 
considerable  power  is  often  called  a  "labor  boss."  (See  STRAW 
Boss;  GANG  Boss;  PIT  Boss.) 

[38] 


Boss  Miner.  In  coal  mining,  a  working  contractor  who  agrees 
with  the  OPERATOR  to  produce  coal  at  a  certain  price  per  ton.  The 
boss  miner  may  in  turn  employ  other  miners  and  assistants  to  do 
the  actual  mining  work  under  his  supervision  and  instruction,  or  he 
may  work  with  a  partner.  (See  BUTTY  OR  CHARTER-MASTER  SYSTEM.) 

Boss  Stevedore.     See  STEVEDORE  SYSTEM. 

Boston  System.  See  FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  THE  GARMENT 
TRADES. 

Boston  Trade  Union  College.  Organized  in  March,  1919, 
by  the  Boston  Central  Labor  Union,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
making  "accessible  to  working  men  and  women  the  study  of  subjects 
which  will  further  the  progress  of  organized  labor."  The  college  was 
founded  upon  a  democratic  basis,  the  committee  in  charge  consisting 
of  eleven  trade  unionists  and  five  instructors.  The  latter,  declaring 
for  the  right  of  academic  freedom,  "assert  that  the  function  of  the 
instruction  in  the  college  is  educational  and  nothing  beyond  that." 
Each  section  of  the  joint  committee  is  responsible  to  the  body  by 
which  it  was  appointed  and  to  the  central  labor  union,  before  which, 
at  open  meetings,  appeals  may  be  made.  Comfortable,  well-equipped 
quarters  were  furnished  by  the  Boston  school  board  in  one  of  the 
city  high-school  buildings.  The  classes  meet  once  a  week  for  two 
hours.  A  nominal  fee  is  charged  for  each  course.  The  membership 
is  limited  to  men  and  women  belonging  to  trade  unions  affiliated 
with  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  English  is  the  subject 
most  frequently  chosen  by  the  students,  with  law,  government, 
science,  economics,  and  labor  organization  following,  about  in  the 
order  named.  (See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION.) 

Bouche  Ouverte.     See  OPEN-MOUTH  STRIKE. 
Bourbon.     See  REACTIONARY. 

Bourgeoisie.  This  French  term  originally  denoted  the  free 
citizen  class  in  the  towns,  as  distinguished  from  the  aristocracy, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  working  class  on  the  other.  The  French 
socialists,  however,  extended  the  meaning  of  the  term  to  include 
all  the  more  or  less  wealthy  classes,  as  opposed  to  the  PROLETARIAT 
or  working  class,  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  the  term  is  used  in 
practically  all  socialist  literature.  In  the  Marxian  formula,  it  is  the 
bourgeoisie  (including  capitalists,  manufacturers,  money  lenders, 
land  owners,  etc.)  who  are  pitted  against  the  proletariat  in  the 
CLASS  STRUGGLE  for  possession  of  the  means  of  production  and 

[39] 


distribution.  (See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM;  COMMUNIST  MANIFESTO; 
DICTATORSHIP  OF  THE  PROLETARIAT;  CONCENTRATION  OF  CAPITAL 
THEORY;  MIDDLE  CLASS;  PROPERTARIAT.) 

Bourses  du  Travail  (Chambers  of  Labor).  In  France,  local 
federations  of  working-class  SYNDICATE  or  trade  unions.  The  first 
bourse  du  travail  was  founded  at  Paris  in  1887,  and  others  soon 
followed.  These  first  bourses  were  established  by  or  with  the  help 
of  the  municipalities  in  which  they  were  situated;  they  aimed  at 
being  for  the  laboring  class  what  chambers  of  commerce  are  for 
the  employer — general  meeting-places  and  centres  of  organization 
for  their  respective  localities.  Municipal  subsidies  were  secured, 
partly  as  election  bribes  but  far  more  because  the  bourses  were  to 
serve  as  local  LABOR  EXCHANGES.  In  1892  the  Bourses  held  their  first 
Congress,  and  in  1893  organized  the  Federation  des  Bourses  du 
Travail.  In  1902  this  federation  united  with  the  CONFEDERATION 
GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL,  giving  this  latter  body  its  first  real  impetus. 
When  the  C.  G.  T.  began  to  develop  its  revolutionary  character 
the  municipal  subsidies  were  in  many  cases  withdrawn — a  disaster 
from  which  recovery  has  been  slow.  But  the  bourses  are  still  per- 
haps the  most  important  centres  of  French  trade  union  activities. 
They  are  largely  used  for  propaganda  work  among  unorganized 
workers,  and  serve  as  schools  of  "intercorporate  solidarity."  During 
strikes  they  are  the  rendezvous  of  the  strikers,  and  in  the  case  of  a 
general  local  strike  they  direct  the  conflict.  They  carry  on  certain 
limited  FRIENDLY  SOCIETY  activities.  Each  local  bourse  serves  as 
a  labor  exchange,  as  a  club-room,  as  a  library,  as  a  lecture-hall. 
Its  affairs  are  directed  by  a  committee,  to  which  every  local  syndicat 
elects  a  member,  and  by  a  general  secretary.  Each  syndicat  con- 
tributes to  the  support  of  its  local  bourse  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
number  of  members  within  the  syndicat.  (See  MUTUALITE;  MAI- 
SONS  DES  OUVRIERS;  FRENCH  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Boycott.  Derived  from  the  name  of  Captain  Boycott,  an 
Irish  landlord  whose  tenants  refused  to  deal  with  him  in  any  way. 
No  thoroughly  satisfactory  definition  of  the  boycott,  with  specific 
reference  to  labor  affairs,  seems  to  have  yet  been  formulated;  it  has 
been  said  that  "scarcely  any  two  courts  treating  of  the  subject 
formulate  the  same  definition."  In  general,  however,  it  may  be 
described  as  an  organized  refusal  on  the  part  of  wage-earners  to 
purchase  the  products  of,  or  otherwise  deal  with,  an  "offending" 
employer,  the  purpose  being  to  compel  compliance  with  some  demand 
of  the  workers  or  to  punish  the  employer  for  "unfair"  acts  or  policies. 

[40] 


This  is  known  as  the  "primary"  or  "simple"  boycott,  being  aimed 
directly  at  the  employer  who  has  offended  the  workers.  When  such 
action  on  the  workers'  part  extends  to  a  refusal  to  patronize  or  deal 
with  other  employers  not  directly  concerned  in  the  original  dispute, 
in  an  effort  to  induce  such  employers  to  suspend  business  relations 
with  the  original  offender,  it  becomes  what  is  called  the  "secondary" 
or  "compound"  boycott.  As  few  employers  of  labor  sell  directly  to 
consumers,  nearly  all  present-day  boycotts  are  of  the  "secondary" 
or  "compound"  variety.  In  either  case,  however,  the  workers 
directly  concerned  not  only  withhold  their  own  patronage,  but 
commonly  endeavor  either  directly  or  indirectly  to  induce  the  buying 
public  in  general  and  all  other  wage-earners  in  particular  to  adopt  a 
similar  policy.  The  term  "negative  boycott"  is  sometimes  applied 
to  such  trade  union  devices  or  methods  as  the  UNION  LABEL  and 
FAIR  LIST;  while  the  boycott  proper,  as  defined  above,  and  the  UN- 
FAIR LIST  or  "we  don't  patronize"  list,  are  classified  as  forms  of 
"positive  boycott."  The  collective  refusal  of  unionists  to  work  with 
a  non-unionist  or  under  an  "unfair"  foreman,  or  to  handle  material 
made  by  non-unionists,  is  often  classed  as  a  boycott;  but  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases  the  labor  boycott  corresponds  to  the  main 
definition  given  above.  Court  decisions  in  the  United  States  almost 
invariably  put  the  ban  of  illegality  upon  labor  boycotts.  "In  some 
cases  boycotts  have  been  held  criminal  offenses  under  the  common 
law,  or  under  statutes  prohibiting  interference  with  lawful  business 
or  employment,  or  prohibiting  the  use  of  INTIMIDATION.  In  a  few 
states  boycotts  are  in  terms  declared  unlawful  by  statute.  In  other 
cases  the  courts  have  granted  civil  damages  to  employers  injured 
by  boycotts,  while  frequently  INJUNCTIONS  have  been  issued  to  re- 
strain them.  The  element  of  combination  in  the  boycott  is  especially 
emphasized  by  the  courts.  They  usually  hold  also  that,  while  a 
strike  has  evidently  for  its  primary  motive  the  improvement  of  the 
condition  of  the  workingmen,  the  boycott  on  its  face  involves  malice, 
the  desire  to  injure  another.  Stress  is  also  laid  on  the  thought  that, 
whatever  the  motive,  the  means — by  deliberate  attempt  to  destroy 
a  man's  business — are  unlawful;  that  the  right  to  conduct  a  lawful 
business  is  a  fundamental  right  of  liberty  and  property,  and  that 
a  man  may  not  properly  be  coerced  to  act  contrary  to  his  wishes  in 
the  management  of  his  own  business."  On  the  other  hand,  however, 
the  trade  boycott — that  is,  the  boycott  of  one  dealer  or  manufac- 
turer by  the  concerted  action  of  other  dealers  or  manufacturers — 
has  been  often  upheld  as  a  legitimate  form  of  competition.  The 
attitude  of  organized  labor  toward  the  boycott  is  thus  summarized 

[41] 


in  the  report  of  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION:  "There  is 
probably  no  union  man  who  doubts  the  legitimacy  of  the  boycott 
as  a  weapon  of  labor,  or  the  necessity  of  using  it.  The  broadest- 
minded  and  most  conservative  of  the  union  leaders  defend  the  right 
to  use  it,  without  hesitation  or  qualification,  and  regard  the  tendency 
of  the  courts  to  condemn  it  as  one  of  the  marks  of  the  injustice  with 
which  they  believe  the  working  people  to  be  treated  by  our  rulers.  The 
right  to  deal,  or  to  refrain  from  dealing,  with  whomsoever  he  pleases, 
and  for  any  reason  which  may  appeal  to  him,  is,  they  say,  one  of  the 
most  elementary  rights  of  a  free  citizen.  But  if  one  man  may  select 
the  persons  he  will  deal  with,  two  or  a  million  may  do  so.  The 
boycott  is  simply  a  common  refusal  on  the  part  of  a  number  of 
people  to  deal  with  a  person  whose  action  is  believed  to  be  antago- 
nistic to  their  interest."  A  novel  and  interesting  use  of  the  labor 
boycott  on  an  international  scale,  for  political  purposes,  was  made 
during  1920  by  the  INTERNATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS, 
in  an  effort  to  coerce  the  Hungarian  government  into  discontinu- 
ance of  its  bloody  persecution  of  communists  and  labor  leaders. 
(See  SYMPATHETIC  BOYCOTT;  RAILWAY  BOYCOTT;  DANBURY  HAT- 
TERS CASE;  BUCK  STOVE  AND  RANGE  CASE;  DUPLEX  PRINTING 
PRESS  CASE;  BLACKLIST.) 

Branch.  The  smallest  unit  of  a  British  national  union,  cor- 
responding roughly  to  the  American  LOCAL.  It  maintains  its  own 
branch  committee,  branch  officers,  and  in  some  cases  its  branch 
funds.  The  branch,  in  addition  to  its  constitutional  position  inside 
the  national  union  to  which  it  belongs,  is  generally  the  body  affili- 
ated to  local  organizations  of  federal  character,  such  as  the  local 
TRADES  COUNCIL,  or  LOCAL  LABOR  PARTY,  and  (in  some  cases)  the  local 
federation  of  trade  unions  in  a  particular  industry.  In  the  larger 
trade  unions  which  have  a  number  of  branches  in  the  same  town  or 
district,  such  branches  are  also  federated  in  a  delegate  body  known 
as  the  DISTRICT  COUNCIL  or  district  committee,  which  usually  has 
considerable  power  and  authority.  The  branch  is  nearly  always 
based  on  the  place  of  habitation  of  its  members  rather  than  on  their 
place  of  work,  and  in  the  larger  towns  there  are  usually  several 
branches  of  the  same  national  union.  In  the  case  of  the  miners, 
however,  the  branch  centres  around  a  national  industrial  unit — the 
coal-pit.  (See  LODGE;  SINGLE-BRANCH  UNION;  MULTIPLE-BRANCH 
UNION;  GOVERNING  BRANCH;  COMPOSITE  BRANCHES.) 

Brazilian  Confederation  of  Labor.  See  CONFEDERAZIONE 
OBRERA  BRASILEANO. 

[4*1 


Bridgeport  Plan.  After  the  labor  disturbances  during  the 
latter  part  of  1918  in  the  machinery  trades  of  Bridgeport,  Conn., 
employers  and  employees  worked  out  a  plan  for  JOINT  COMMITTEES 
to  deal  with  all  matters  of  mutual  concern  and  interest  in  the  Bridge- 
port industries.  This  plan  provides  for  the  election  of  employees' 
department  committees  and  employees'  general  committees,  and 
prescribes  by-laws  governing  the  powers  and  functions  and  the 
methods  of  procedure  of  these  committees,  and  also  makes  provision 
for  a  referendum  and  recall  of  duly  elected  committeemen,  and  for 
amendment  of  the  by-laws. 

British  Cooperative  Wholesale  Society.  See  WHOLESALE 
COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES. 

British  Housing  Acts.  The  acute  shortage  of  houses  for 
the  working  classes  after  the  war  led  the  British  government  to 
adopt  a  definite  housing  programme,  under  the  general  supervision 
of  the  Ministry  of  Health.  The  first  step  toward  the  working  out 
of  this  programme  was  accomplished  with  the  passage  of  the  Housing 
and  Town-Planning  Act,  July,  1919.  This  act  made  the  local  authori- 
ties responsible  for  providing  the  necessary  housing  accommoda- 
tions, but  the  government,  having  to  undertake  responsibility  for 
the  financial  results,  was  to  have  complete  control  and  supervision 
of  all  undertakings.  The  community  and  the  nation  were  each  to 
provide  a  specified  proportion  of  the  cost  of  building.  In  December, 
1919,  a  new  act  was  passed,  the  Housing  (Additional  Powers)  Act, 
giving  the  Minister  of  Health  authority  under  specified  conditions 
to  make  grants  for  houses,  or,  in  other  words,  to  invite  private  enter- 
prise to  cooperate  and  to  offer  it  a  subsidy  for  so  doing.  Under  the 
new  acts,  the  Ministry  of  Health  is  empowered  to  require  the  local 
authorities  to  prepare  and  carry  out  schemes  for  needed  housing, 
and  also,  for  a  specified  number  of  years,  to  pay  to  them  out  of 
State  funds  seventy-five  per  cent  of  any  loss  resulting  from  the 
difference  between  the  economic  rent  on  the  increased  cost  of  build- 
ing and  the  reasonable  rent  which  working-class  tenants  can  bear. 
The  country  has  been  divided  for  housing  purposes  into  eleven 
regions,  each  with  a  regional  commissioner,  armed  with  large  dele- 
gated powers,  who  works  in  close  cooperation  with  the  local  authori- 
ties. (See  MANCHESTER  BUILDING  GUILD.) 

British  Industrial  Court.     See  INDUSTRIAL  COURTS  ACT. 

British  Labor  Party.  In  1899,  largely  through  the  efforts 
of  the  INDEPENDENT  LABOR  PARTY,  the  formation  of  an  independent 

[43] 


organization  for  promoting  the  election  of  labor  members  to  Par- 
liament was  decided  upon  by  the  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS.  As 
a  result  of  this. decision  a  body  known  as  the  Labor  Representation 
Committee  was  formed  during  the  following  year.  This  was  a  federal 
body  representative  not  only  of  trade  unions  and  TRADES  COUNCILS, 
but  also  of  socialist  and  cooperative  societies.  In  1906  this  body 
was  renamed  the  British  Labor  Party.  Except  for  a  section  which 
included  the  Independent  Labor  Party,  the  organization  supported 
the  recent  war  and  took  part  in  the  coalition  government.  Under 
a  new  constitution  adopted  in  1918,  individuals  not  associated  with 
other  socialist  or  labor  organizations  are  permitted  to  enter  the 
Party  through  membership  in  the  so-called  LOCAL  LABOR  PARTIES, 
and  to  share  in  the  election  of  five  members  to  the  national  execu- 
tive. Of  the  remaining  seats  on  the  national  executive,  four  are 
reserved  for  women,  and  the  others  are  allotted  to  the  national 
societies — labor,  socialist,  and  cooperative.  The  principal  purposes 
of  the  Party,  as  set  forth  in  its  constitution,  are  (i)  "to  secure  for 
the  producers  by  hand  or  by  brain  the  full  fruits  of  their  industry, 
and  the  most  equitable  distribution  thereof  that  may  be  possible, 
upon  the  basis  of  the  common  ownership  of  the  means  of  production 
and  the  best  obtainable  system  of  popular  administration  and  con- 
trol of  each  industry  or  service";  and  (2)  "generally  to  promote  the 
political,  social,  and  economic  emancipation  of  the  people,  and  more 
particularly  of  those  who  depend  directly  upon  their  own  exertions 
by  hand  or  by  brain  for  the  means  of  life."  The  Party  is  thus  avowedly 
socialistic  in  its  aims,  representing  the  moderate  or  right-wing 
school  9f  socialistic  theory.  It  is  affiliated  with  the  second  INTER- 
NATIONALE. The  membership  of  the  Party  exceeded  three  and  one- 
half  millions  in  1919.  Since  1918  it  has  been  the  leading  opposition 
party  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  (See  PARLIAMENTARY  LABOR 
PARTY;  LABOR  AND  THE  NEW  SOCIAL  ORDER;  COUNCIL  OF  ACTION; 
BLACKCOATS;  WOMAN'S  LABOR  LEAGUE.) 

British  Ministry  of  Labor.  The  administrative  department 
(organized  December,  1916)  of  the  British  government  that  concerns 
itself  with  the  welfare  of  the  laboring  classes,  including  the  super- 
vision Of  LABOR  EXCHANGES,  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE,  TRADE 

BOARDS,  and  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS;  MEDIATION,  CONCILIATION, 
and  ARBITRATION  in  industrial  disputes;  the  preparation  of  labor 
statistics;  etc.  At  its  head  is  the  Minister  of  Labor,  to  whom  are 
attached  a  "Parliamentary  secretary,"  two  "joint  permanent 
secretaries,"  a  "second  secretary,"  a  solicitor,  an  accountant-general, 

[44] 


and  heads  of  the  following  departments:  Establishment,  Wages 
and  Arbitration,  Employment,  Industries,  Council  Secretariat, 
Intelligence  and  Statistics,  Training,  Appointments,  Civil  Liabilities. 
The  three  last-named  are  temporary  departments. 

British  National  Industrial  Conference.  Early  in  1919 
Mr.  Lloyd  George,  the  British  Prime  Minister,  summoned  some 
five  hundred  representatives  of  employers'  associations  and  trade 
unions,  to  discuss  in  conference  some  of  the  more  pressing  national 
problems  in  connection  with  industrial  reconstruction  and  labor 
unrest.  At  a  meeting  held  February  27,  1919,  the  Conference  re- 
solved to  appoint  a  joint  committee,  composed  of  employers'  and 
workers'  representatives  m  equal  number,  with  a  chairman  chosen 
by  the  government,  "to  consider  and  report  to  a  further  meeting  of 
this  conference  on  the  causes  of  the  present  unrest  and  the  steps 
necessary  to  safeguard  and  promote  the  best  interests  of  employers, 
workpeople,  and  the  State."  This  joint  committee's  report,  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  reassembled  conference  on  April  4,  recom- 
mended, among  various  other  matters,  the  "universal"  legal  deter- 
mination and  enforcement  of  MINIMUM  WAGE  scales,  a  compulsory 
FORTY-EIGHT  HOUR  WEEK,  obligatory  RECOGNITION  of  trade  unions, 
and  the  formation  of  a  permanent  national  industrial  council  or 
industrial  parliament  to  advise  the  government  on  all  matters  con- 
cerning industry.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST.) 

British  Trade  Union  Organization.  As  a  specimen  of  the 
elaborate  administrative  organization  of  some  of  the  larger  British 
national  unions,  that  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  is 
thus  outlined  in  C.  M.  Lloyd's  "Trade  Unionism":  "It  has  in  daily 
attendance  at  its  headquarters  in  London,  a  paid  Executive  Council 
of  a  Chairman  and  seven  members,  elected  by  ballot  from  the  seven 
divisions  into  which  Great  Britain  is  divided.  Side  by  side  with  this 
Council,  and  largely  under  its  control,  works  the  GENERAL  SECRE- 
TARY with  four  assistants.  For  organising  purposes  there  is  a  staff 
(under  the  direction  of  the  Executive  Council)  of  twelve  Organising 
District  Delegates,  each  elected  for  three  years  (and  reeligible) 
from  and  by  the  district  in  which  he  has  worked  and  resided  for  the 
twelve  months  immediately  preceding  his  nomination.  The  duties 
of  these  Organizing  District  Delegates  include  the  visiting  and 
strengthening  of  branches,  the  attending  of  conferences,  the  inter- 
viewing of  employers,  and  so  on.  There  is  also  a  network  of  Dis- 
trict Committees,  varying  in  size  according  to  the  number  of  branches 
in  the  district.  The  Committee-men,  who  must  be  working  at  their 

[45] 


trade,  are  elected  half-yearly  (the  President  and  Secretary  annually), 
and  are  empowered,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Executive  Council, 
to  deal  with  questions  of  trade  disputes,  wages,  hours  and  conditions 
of  labor,  and  so  on,  in  their  respective  areas.  At  the  head  of  the  whole 
organization  are  the  Delegate  Meeting  and  Final  Appeal  Court. 
The  Delegate  Meeting  consists  of  one  delegate  for  every  3000  members 
chosen  from  equal  electoral  areas.  It  is  only  summoned  in  emer- 
gencies or  to  deal  with  matters  vitally  affecting  the  Society.  It  has 
power  to  alter  or  rescind  any  rule  (due  notice  having  been  given  to 
the  branches),  but  it  must  not  abrogate  any  of  the  principles  of  the 
Society,  'unless  thereafter  forty  per  cent  of  the  membership  vote 
in  favor  of  the  change.'  The  Final  Appeal  Court,  composed  of  one 
delegate  for  every  6000  members  and  meeting  every  two  years,  con- 
siders and  decides  all  appeals  against  the  rulings  of  the  Executive 
Council."  (For  main  references  to  general  details  of  British  trade 
union  organization,  see  BRANCH;  MULTIPLE-BRANCH  UNION;  SINGLE- 
BRANCH  UNION;  GOVERNING  BRANCH;  COMPOSITE  BRANCHES;  CEN- 
TRAL EXECUTIVE;  REPRESENTATIVE  MEETING;  DISTRICT  COUNCIL; 
ADVISORY  COUNCILS;  DISTRICT  DELEGATES;  GENERAL  SECRETARY; 
SHOP  STEWARD;  STEWARD.) 

Broken  Time.     See  SHORT  TIME;  STRAIGHT  TIME. 

Brooklands  Agreement.  An  important  arrangement  between 
operatives  xand  employers  which  governed  the  English  cotton- 
spinning  trade  from  1893  to  1905.  It  provided  elaborate  machinery 
for  the  adjustment  of  wages  and  trade  disputes  by  mutual  discussion, 
without  cessation  of  work.  (See  BAD  SPINNING.) 

Brook  wood  College.  At  a  meeting  of  trade  union  leaders 
held  at  New  York  in  the  spring  of  1921,  plans  were  made  for  the 
organization  under  this  name  of  the  first  resident  workers'  college 
in  the  United  States.  According  to  a  formal  statement  issued  by 
the  conference,  "it  was  decided  to  unite  with  the  American  labor 
union  movement  a  force  of  education  that  will  serve  American  labor 
with  trained,  responsible,  liberally  educated  men  and  women  from 
the  ranks  of  the  workers.  The  new  college  is  not  intended  to  act 
as  a  propagandist  institution.  Thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the 
aims  and  aspirations  of  labor  as  a  whole,  the  college  will  closely 
cooperate  with  the  national  and  international  labor  groups,  also  with 
the  various  local  colleges  and  schools  that  send  to  it  working  men 
and  women  who  show  promise  as  to  need  further  education  in  order 
best  to  serve  the  labor  movement  and  through  it  society."  The 

[46] 


college  will  be  established  at  Katonah,  N.  Y.,  and  will  be  guided  by 
the  principles  of  academic  freedom,  student  self-government,  and 
cooperative  living.  (See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION.) 

Brotherhood.  A  title  sometimes  assumed  by  a  trade  union — 
notably  the  various  national  or  international  organizations  of  Amer- 
ican railway  workers,  commonly  known  as  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS. 

Brotherhood  Cooperations.  "For  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
the  benefits  of  the  rates,  rules,  and  regulations  now  in  effect,  and  for 
improving  the  same  as  conditions  may  warrant,"  the  "big  four" 
RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS  have  a  special  form  of  agreement  by  which 
so-called  "cooperations"  are  formed  in  conjunction  with  other 
organizations  of  railway  workers.  These  cooperations  function 
through  "cooperative  boards,"  each  of  which  consists  of  the  "gen- 
eral committees"  of  the  various  organizations  affiliated  under  this 
plan  for  a  single  railway  system.  Where  a  cooperation  is  formed,  it 
takes  the  place  of  the  existing  SYSTEM  FEDERATION,  formed  under 
the  CEDAR  RAPIDS  PLAN,  for  the  particular  line  of  railway  involved. 
The  cooperative  plan  is  carefully  arranged  to  give  the  "big  four" 
control  of  all  cooperations. 

Brown  System.  A  plan  of  DISCIPLINE  for  railway  employees 
devised  by  George  R.  Brown,  an  American  railway  superintendent. 
It  consists,  in  essence,  of  keeping  a  record  of  each  employee  in  the 
service,  with  a  method  of  debit  and  credit  marks  for  delinquencies 
or  special  efficiency.  The  employee  is  not  suspended  for  minor 
offences,  but  is  discharged  or  promoted  on  the  basis  of  his  record 
as  a  whole  for  a  specific  period.  The  Brown  system  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  "discipline  by  record"  or  "discipline  without  sus- 
pension." 

Buck  Stove  and  Range  Case.  An  historic  episode  in  Amer- 
ican labor  annals,  of  particular  importance  with  reference  to  the  use 
of  the  BOYCOTT  and  the  INJUNCTION  in  labor  disputes.  In  1907 
the  Buck  Stove  and  Range  Company  became  involved  in  trouble 
with  its  molders.  A  strike  and  a  boycott  followed,  the  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  including  the  name  of  the  company  in  its 
"We  Don't  Patronize"  column,  or  UNFAIR  LIST,  of  "The  American 
Federationist."  A  sweeping  injunction  against  this  and  other  actions 
of  the  Federation  was  secured  by  the  company,  and  later  three  high 
officials  of  the  Federation  were  sentenced  to  prison  terms  for  viola- 
tion of  this  injunction.  After  legal  proceedings  lasting  for  more  than 

[47] 


three  years,  the  Supreme  Court  set  aside  the  judgment  of  imprison- 
ment. 

Buck  System.    See  BERKSHIRE  SYSTEM. 

Buffer  Employment.  Temporary  work  provided  for  persons 
thrown  out  of  jobs  in  a  SEASONAL  OCCUPATION  or  in  a  period  of  indus- 
trial depression  or  readjustment.  Buffer  employment  usually  con- 
sists of  work  upon  public  improvements  of  various  sorts. 

Builders'  Parliament.     See  BUILDING  TRADES  PARLIAMENT. 

Building  and  Loan  Associations.  This  form  of  cooperative 
credit  association,  found  chiefly  in  the  United  States,  is  intended 
to  aid  wage  earners  and  small  salaried  workers  in  acquiring  homes 
of  their  own.  Small  sums  of  money  are  collected  on  the  instalment 
plan  from  all  members,  and  then  loaned  to  individual  members  who 
wish  to  purchase  or  build  homes.  (See  CREDIT  COOPERATION.) 

Building  Trades  Councils.  Local,  district,  and  state  bodies, 
representative  of  such  trade  unions  in  the  building  industries  as  are 
affiliated  with  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  and  its  BUILD- 
ING TRADES  DEPARTMENT — by  which  latter  organization  the  coun- 
cils are  chartered.  In  the  case  of  local  councils  (the  most  numerous 
and  important  type)  it  is  provided  that  "the  jurisdiction  of  this 
council  shall  completely  cover  the  building  industry  either  in  erec- 
tion, repair  or  alteration,  and  this  council  is  endowed  with  full 
autonomy  over  all  matters  affecting  all  workmen  engaged  in  said 
industry,  when  in  conformity  with  the  laws  and  decisions  of  the 
Building  Trades  Department."  The  functions  of  such  councils  are 
to  determine  local  JURISDICTION  and  to  discipline  local  unions  for 
violations;  to  act  for  the  locals  in  making  local  agreements  with  em- 
ployers; to  act  together  in  disciplining  employers  by  strike  or  other- 
wise; and  to  assist  employers  in  securing  and  maintaining  monopoly 
of  the  field.  Each  council  has  its  own  officers  and  executive  council, 
and  as  a  rule  one  or  more  BUSINESS  AGENTS  who  "have  power  to 
order  all  strikes  when  instructed  to  do  so  by  the  council  or  executive 
board."  An  effective  part  of  the  council's  machinery  is  the  "board 
of  business  agents,"  the  members  of  which  keep  watch  for  each  other 
of  violations  of  union  rules,  formulate  and  present  demands,  and  to 
a  considerable  degree  control  relations  with  employers.  In  addition 
to  the  local  councils,  district  councils  or  conference  boards  may  be 
formed  "where  two  or  more  local  unions  of  an  affiliated  international 
organization  exist  under  the  jurisdiction  of  this  council."  State 

[48] 


councils  may  be  formed  and  chartered  by  the  Building  Trades  De- 
partment "in  any  state  or  territory  of  the  United  States  or  province 
of  Canada,  provided  that  a  majority  of  the  chartered  local  councils 
shall  have  made  application  therefor,  and  they  shall  have  power 
to  make  their  own  laws  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  this  Depart- 
ment." (See  TRADES  COUNCIL — AMERICAN.) 

Building  Trades  Department  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor.  Organized  1908,  under  a  constitution  of  which  the  first 
two  sections  are  as  follows:  "(i)  This  organization  shall  be  ... 
composed  of  national  and  international  building  trades  organiza- 
tions, recognized  as  such,  duly  and  regularly  chartered  by  the  AMER- 
ICAN FEDERATION  OP  LABOR.  Membership  shall  be  confined  to 
national  and  international  building  trades  organizations  that  are 
affiliated  with  the  Federation,  and  which  are  universally  employed 
in  the  building  industry,  either  in  erection,  repair,  or  alteration. 
(2)  The  object  of  this  body  shall  be  the  encouragement  and  forma- 
tion of  local  organizations  of  building  tradesmen,  and  the  conferring 
of  such  power  and  authority  upon  the  several  locals  of  this  Depart- 
ment as  may  advance  the  interest  and  welfare  of  the  building  indus- 
try; to  adjust  trade  disputes  along  practical  lines  as  they  arise 
from  time  to  time  and  to  create  a  more  harmonious  feeling  between 
the  employer  and  employee;  to  issue  charters  to  national  and  inter- 
national unions,  state  and  local  BUILDING  TRADES  COUNCILS  for  the 
purpose  of  attending  to  building  trades  matters."  The  delimiting 
of  JURISDICTION  in  the  building  trades  is  one  of  the  most  important 
functions  of  this  Department.  Its  constitution  stipulates  that 
"each  affiliated  organization  shall  be  required  to  submit  a  written 
statement  covering  the  extent  and  character  of  its  trade  jurisdiction, 
and  when  allowed  by  the  Executive  Council  and  approved  by  the 
general  convention,  no  encroachment  by  other  trades  will  be  coun- 
tenanced or  tolerated."  (See  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  FED- 
ERATION OF  LABOR;  NATIONAL  BOARD  FOR  JURISDICTIONAL  AWARDS.) 

Building  Trades  Parliament.  A  recently  organized  INDUS- 
TRIAL COUNCIL  for  the  building  industry  of  Great  Britain.  It  differs 
from  the  WHITLEY  PLAN  in  providing  not  merely  for  "a  permanent 
improvement  in  the  relations  between  employers  and  workmen," 
but  in  its  effort  to  build  up  "a  new  and  better  industrial  order." 
It  consists  of  132  members,  one  half  elected  by  the  trade  unions 
and  half  by  the  associations  of  building-trade  employers.  It  makes 
decisions  by  a  majority  of  the  whole  council,  instead  of  following 
the  Whitley  council  practice  of  requiring  a  majority  on  each  side. 

[49] 


Bulgarian  General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.    See  ZEN- 

TRALVERBAND   DER   BULGARISCHEN   GEWERKSCHAFTEN. 

Bull  System.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  American  railroads  and 
other  quasi-public  corporations  to  maintain  a  permanent  private 
police  force.  This  is  known  among  workers  as  the  "bull  system" 
—"bull"  being  a  common  slang  designation  for  a  policeman.  In 
differentiation  from  a  city  or  state  police  officer,  a  private  policeman 
is  usually  termed  a  "company  bull,"  "railroad  bull,"  etc.  (See 
POLICING  OF  INDUSTRY.) 

Summery.  After  the  split  in  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OP 
THE  WORLD  organization  in  1908  the  Detroit  or  POLITICAL  ACTION 
wing  applied  this  derisive  nickname  to  the  Chicago  or  DIRECT  ACTION 
wing — the  present  I.  W.  W.  The  name  originated  in  a  popular 
I.  W.  W.  song  with  a  refrain  beginning  "Hallelujah,  I'm  a  bum." 

Bureau  International  du  Travail.  See  INTERNATIONAL 
LABOR  OFFICE. 

Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.  One  of  the  five  permanent 
bureaus  of  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OP  LABOR.  It  was 
formally  organized  January  i,  1885,  as  the  Bureau  of  Labor  in  the 
Department  of  the  Interior,  and  was  made  an  independent  depart- 
ment in  1888  as  a  "Department  of  Labor,"  but  without  Cabinet 
representation.  In  1903  it  was  renamed  the  "Bureau  of  Labor" 
and  placed  in  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  Upon 
the  creation  of  the  present  Department  of  Labor  in  1913,  this  bureau 
was  transferred  to  it,  and  the  title  changed  to  "Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics."  The  fact-gathering  bureau  of  the  Department,  its  func- 
tion is  to  gather,  collate,  and  report  statistics  of  labor,  and  generally 
to  disseminate  labor  information.  Besides  an  important  periodical, 
the  "Monthly  Labor  Review,"  the  Bureau  publishes  numerous  bul- 
letins, reports,  monographs,  etc.,  relating  to  all  phases  of  the  labor 
movement,  both  here  and  abroad.  It  aids  in  standardizing  state 
labor  legislation  and  administration,  in  establishing  and  reorganizing 
state  statistical  departments,  in  providing  state  labor  bureaus, 
members  of  Congress,  and  other  bodies  and  persons  with  needed 
labor  facts,  etc.,  etc.  The  principal  officers  of  the  Bureau  are  a  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  Statistics  and  a  Chief  Statistician. 

Bureau  voor  de  Roomsche  Katholicke  Vakorgenisatie 
(Bureau  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Organizations).  See  DUTCH  LABOR 
ORGANIZATIONS. 

I  So] 


Bureaus  of  Labor.  Permanent  government  offices  for  the 
investigation  of  labor  matters,  in  particular  the  collection  of  sta- 
tistics regarding  wages,  hours,  and  conditions  of  labor.  The  first 
government  bureau  of  labor  was  established  by  Massachusetts 
in  1869.  Since  then  similar  bureaus,  under  various  names,  have 
been  established  by  the  Federal  government,  by  some  forty  state 
governments,  and  by  nearly  all  prominent  foreign  governments. 

Bureaucracy.  Literally,  government  by  bureaus;  in  ordinary 
usage  a  term  of  opprobrium  for  the  excessive  multiplication  of,  and 
concentration  of  power  in,  administrative  bureaus  of  any  sort. 
Bureaucracy  implies  a  minute  subdivision  of  functions;  inflexible 
formality  and  pride  of  place  on  the  part  of  administrators;  and 
official  interference  in  many  of  the  properly  private  concerns  of  life. 
The  evils  of  bureaucracy  are  commonly  considered  to  be  inherent 
in  any  scheme  of  STATE  SOCIALISM.  Some  of  its  characteristics  are 
occasionally  found  within  the  labor  movement  itself — generally  in 
the  case  of  old  and  conservative  trade  unions  of  the  craft  type, 
where  control  has  become  strongly  centralized. 

Bureaux  Paritaires.  Public  LABOR  EXCHANGES  in  France, 
organized  by  an  agreement  between  employers  and  employees. 
Great  care  is  taken  to  preserve  their  character  of  impartiality.  The 
governing  board  is  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  members  elected 
by  the  respective  interests,  and  the  presiding  officer  belongs  to  neither 
interest.  The  exchanges  are  directed  to  receive  demands  for  workers 
from  employers'  associations  and  to  send  employees  directly  to  the 
office  of  the  employer,  not  to  the  association  making  the  requisition, 
in  order  to  avoid  any  suspicion  of  recruiting  labor  through  private 
exchanges. 

Burial  Money.    See  DEATH  BENEFITS. 

Business  Agent.  The  paid  representative  of  a  local  trade 
union  or  other  labor  body,  whose  function  it  is  to  look  after  all  "out- 
side" interests  of  the  union,  particularly  the  relations  of  union  mem- 
bers with  their  employers.  In  some  unions  the  business  agent  also 
performs  certain  duties  ordinarily  left  to  the  SHOP  STEWARD,  such  as 
collecting  union  dues,  detecting  and  calling  attention  to  violations 
of  TRADE  AGREEMENTS,  and  preventing  the  employment  of  non- 
union workers  in  union  shops.  In  addition,  he  sometimes  fulfills 
the  functions  of  an  employment  agency.  "Employers  who  need  ad- 
ditional journeymen  apply  to  him  in  the  early  morning  hours  before 
he  starts  on  his  round  of  visits  from  one  establishment  to  another, 

[Si] 


and  he  dispatches  such  men  as  are  out  of  work  to  fill  the  vacant  places. 
As  an  ORGANIZER  he  seeks  to  persuade  workmen  to  join  the  union. 
Frequently  he  acts  as  financial  secretary.  Sometimes  when  the 
union  pays  sick  benefits  he  visits  sick  members  to  determine  their 
eligibility  to  receive  such  benefits."  The  office  of  business  agent 
exists  in  only  a  minority  of  LOCALS.  A  local  must  have  considerable 
strength  before  it  can  afford  the  expense,  and  in  many  trades  the 
need  is  hardly  felt.  The  office  plays  an  especially  large  part  in  the 
building  trades.  "In  his  capacity  of  employment  agent  for  the  union 
the  business  agent  is  able,  if  not  quite  upright,  to  serve  his  special 
friends,  and  so  to  make  it  worth  while  for  members  who  are  or  may 
be  out  of  jobs  to  consult  his  desires.  As  the  representative  of  the 
union  in  dealing  with  employers,  he  is  able  to  bring  the  organization 
without  the  previous  consent  of  the  members,  into  positions  from 
which  it  cannot  easily  retreat.  In  some  unions  he  has  power  to  order 
strikes.  Even  when  this  power  is  not  formally  granted,  his  advice 
to  quit  work  will  often  produce  the  same  effect.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  business  agent  may  sometimes  take  it  upon  himself  to  make 
agreements  with  employers  on  behalf  of  the  union.  The  union  is 
likely  to  repudiate  such  agreements  if  they  do  not  meet  its  views; 
but  the  employers  blame  the  union  in  such  cases,  and  consider  that 
it  has  violated  its  obligations.  So  long  as  he  holds  his  place,  there- 
fore, the  business  agent  has  a  large  power  for  good  or  evil.  The  living 
of  his  fellow-members  depends  upon  his  wisdom  and  his  honesty. 
But  they  realize  it,  and  they  watch  him  with  the  eyes  of  a  jealous 
master.  If  they  come  to  believe  that  he  is  either  rash  or  foolish  or 
dishonest  his  authority  will  be  quickly  ended."  (See  WALKING 
DELEGATE;  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — LOCAL;  BUILDING  TRADES 
COUNCILS;  AGITATOR;  DISTRICT  UNION.) 

Business  Engineering.     See  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT. 

Business  Unionism.  The  functional  type  of  labor  organiza- 
tion which,  in  Professor  R.  F.  Hoxie's  characterization,  "is  essentially 
trade-conscious,  rather  than  class-conscious.  That  is  to  say,  it 
expresses  the  viewpoint  and  interests  of  the  workers  in  a  craft  or 
industry  rather  than  those  of  the  working  class  as  a  whole.  It 
aims  chiefly  at  more,  here  and  now,  for  the  organized  workers  of  the 
craft  or  industry,  in  terms  mainly  of  higher  wages,  shorter  hours, 
and  better  working  conditions,  regardless  for  the  most  part  of  the 
welfare  of  the  workers  outside  the  particular  organic  group,  and 
regardless  in  general  of  political  and  social  considerations,  except 
in  so  far  as  these  bear  directly  upon  its  own  economic  ends."  Business 

[52] 


unionism  depends  mainly  upon  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  favors  volun- 
tary ARBITRATION  and  MUTUAL  INSURANCE,  and  as  a  rule  deprecates 
strikes  and  avoids  POLITICAL  ACTION.  It  tends  to  be  conservative 
and  exclusive,  seeking  merely  to  improve  its  own  position  within  the 
existing  economic  system.  The  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS  are  per- 
haps the  best  exemplars  of  business  unionism  in  the  United  States, 
although  the  type  is  dominant  in  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OP 
LABOR  as  well.  (See  PURE  AND  SIMPLE  UNIONISM;  OLD  UNIONISM; 

CORPORATISME.) 

Button.    See  WORKING  BUTTON. 

Button  Strike.  Among  American  coal-miners,  members  of 
the  union  "in  good  standing"  usually  wear  WORKING  BUTTONS, 
issued  by  the  union.  In  many  cases  these  union  members  have 
refused  to  work  with  men  not  wearing  buttons — thus  precipitating 
what  is  called  a  "button  strike."  Such  strikes  were  at  one  time  of 
considerable  frequency. 

Butty  or  Charter -Master  System.  Under  this  form  of  the 
CONTRACT  SYSTEM,  once  common  and  still  occasionally  found  in 
certain  sections  of  the  British  coal-mining  industry,  different  parts 
of  the  mine  are  let  out  to  working  contractors,  who  hire  the  coal- 
hewers  to  work  with  and  under  them.  The  ' '  butty-man  "  or  "  charter- 
master,"  as  the  working  contractor  was  called,  paid  his  gang  a  daily 
time  wage,  but  was  himself  paid  on  the  basis  of  output;  hence  he 
would  naturally  always  have  an  interest  in  speeding-up  the  hewers, 
since  the  faster  they  worked  the  larger  would  be  his  profits.  A 
modified  form  of  this  system  is  found,  or  was  formerly  found,  in  the 
anthracite  coal  region  of  Pennsylvania.  The  "butty  system"  is 
sometimes  known  as  the  "butty-gang  system."  (See  Boss  MINER.) 

Butty -Gang  System.     See  BUTTY  SYSTEM. 

By -Laws.  In  some  labor  unions  the  WORKING  RULES  formu- 
lated by  the  national  organization  are  supplemented  by  local  or 
district  "by-laws,"  which  cover  in  more  detailed  form  the  various 
regulations  in  regard  to  terms  and  conditions  of  employment  which 
must  be  observed  by  members  of  the  union  and  by  employers  in  the 
particular  locality  or  district  concerned. 

Bye-Turnman.  In  the  British  iron  industry  (and  perhaps 
in  other  trades  as  well)  this  is  the  common  designation  for  an  extra 
or  relief  worker  who  frequents  a  particular  works  and  is  given  habitual 
although  irregular  employment  whenever  he  is  needed.  (See  ON- 
AND-OFF  SYSTEM.) 

4  [S3] 


C.  G.  L.    See  CONFEDERAZIONE  GENERALS  DEL  LAVORO. 

C.  G.  T.  As  most  commonly  used,  these  initials  refer  to  the 
CONFEDERATION  GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL,  the  leading  labor  body  of 
France.  In  connection  with  Spanish  labor  affairs,  they  refer  to  the 
CONFEDERACION  GENERAL  DEL  TRABAjo,  the  largest  labor  body  in 
Spain. 

C.  I.  L.     See  CONFEDERAZIONE  ITALIANA  DEI  LAVORATORI. 
C.  S.  B.     See  COMMISSION  SYNDICALE  BELGE. 

Ca'  Canny.  This  Scotch  phrase,  meaning  to  "go  easy"  or 
act  cautiously,  is  applied  in  labor  circles  to  the  practice  on  a  worker's 
part  of  intentionally  slackening  the  speed  of  production  by  various 
methods  not  readily  apparent  to  the  foreman  or  employer.  As 
generally  practiced,  ca'  canny  is  one  of  the  milder  forms  of  SABOTAGE 
— a  policy  adopted  to  injure  the  employer  and  express  dissatisfac- 
tion. This  policy  is  indicated  in  the  French  motto,  "a  bad  day's 
work  for  a  bad  day's  pay."  On  the  other  hand,  however,  ca'  canny 
may  be  merely  a  form  of  protection  against  SPEEDING  UP,  or  a  measure 
adopted  in  a  period  of  slack  work  to  prevent  or  lessen  UNEMPLOY- 
MENT. It  may  also  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  PIECE 
WORK  prices  or  BASE  TIME  allowances.  As  distinguished  from 
STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB,  it  usually  denotes  a  fairly  continuous  policy, 
rather  than  a  method  of  dealing  with  a  particular  situation  at  a  par- 
ticular time;  although  this  distinction  is  not  always  maintained  in 
current  usage.  Ca'  canny  has  seldom,  if  ever,  received  the  sanction 
of  trade  union  leaders,  and  is  generally  denounced  by  them  when- 
ever practiced.  "Go  canny"  is  an  alternate  form  of  the  phrase; 
while  the  term  "go  easy  system"  is  often  used  in  the  same  sense. 
(See  CONSCIENTIOUS  WITHDRAWAL  OF  EFFICIENCY;  WORK-TO-RULE 
MOVEMENT;  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT.) 

Caisse  de  Ch6mage.    See  FONDS  NATIONALE  DE  CAISSE. 

[54] 


Caisse  de  Secours  Mutual.  The  fund  of  a  French  SYNDICAT, 
or  local  trade  union,  from  which  sick  benefits  are  paid  to  union  mem- 
bers, is  so  called.  Only  a  small  proportion  of  the  syndicate  main- 
tain such  funds. 

Call  Book.     See  HOUSE  OF  CALL  SYSTEM. 

Camera  del  Lavoro  (Chamber  of  Labor).  In  Italy,  an  organi- 
zation representative  of  the  various  labor  bodies  in  a  particular 
town  or  district,  and  corresponding  in  general  to  the  French  BOURSE 
DU  TRAVAIL.  Since  1 89 1  the  camere  del  lavoro  have  been  the  chief 
centres  and  sou:ces  of  Italian  working-class  activity.  They  collect 
information  about  employment,  promote  new  labor  legislation  and 
the  enforcement  of  existing  laws,  and  negotiate  with  employers, 
direct  strikes,  and  perform  various  other  functions.  Until  1896  the 
municipalities  contributed  to  their  funds,  but  since  that  date  such 
subsidies  have  been  illegal.  Not  trade  unions  only,  but  cooperative 
societies,  etc.,  are  affiliated  with  the  camere  del  lavoro.  While  at 
first  non-political  and  inclusive  in  character,  there  has  been  a  marked 
development  of  late  among  the  camere  to  divide  along  the  lines  of 
the  current  political-social  schisms,  each  faction  establishing  its  own 
camera  as  a  centre  for  political  activities.  Thus  in  Rome  there  are 
now  four  rival  camere  del  lavoro,  while  many  other  of  the  larger 
towns  have  three.  (See  ITALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Camps.    See  LABOR  CAMPS. 

Canadian  Department  of  Labor.  One  of  the  main  executive 
departments  of  the  Dominion  government,  presided  over  by  a  Min- 
ister of  Labor,  a  Deputy  Minister,  and  other  officials.  This  depart- 
ment administers  the  labor  laws  of  Canada,  fixes  FAIR  WAGE  schedules 
to  be  inserted  in  government  contracts;  collects  and  classifies  sta- 
tistical and  other  information  relating  to  conditions  of  labor;  and 
publishes  monthly  "The  Labor  Gazette"  and  periodically  special 
bulletins  on  trade  and  labor  conditions,  prices,  labor  legislation,  etc. 

Canadian  Federation  of  Labor.  See  CANADIAN  LABOR 
ORGANIZATIONS. 

Canadian  Industrial  Disputes  Investigation  Act.  A  meas- 
ure (otherwise  known  as  the  Lemieux  Act)  adopted  by  the  Dominion 
Parliament  in  1907,  which  provides  for  the  COMPULSORY  INVESTI- 
GATION of  disputes  in  a  certain  class  of  industries  "affected  with  a 
public  interest"  (coal-mining,  public  utilities,  etc.).  The  Act  makes 
it  unlawful  to  change  the  terms  of  employment  or  to  declare  a  strike 

Issl 


or  lockout  in  such  industries  without  thirty  days'  notice  or  (if  appeal 
is  taken  to  the  Minister  of  Labor  within  that  time)  while  an  investi- 
gation is  going  on.  Upon  application,  the  Minister  of  Labor  appoints 
a  special  board  to  investigate  the  dispute  and  if  possible  to  effect 
CONCILIATION  between  the  disputants.  This  board  consists  of  three 
members — one  nominated  by  the  employer,  one  by  the  workers, 
and  an  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN  selected  by  these  two  or  (in  case  of 
failure  to  agree)  by  the  Minister  of  Labor.  If  the  board  fails  to  effect 
a  settlement,  it  issues  a  report  of  its  investigation  and  findings, 
relying  upon  the  force  of  public  opinion  to  bring  the  side  at  fault 
into  acceptance  of  the  "impartial"  award.  After  such  report  is 
issued,  the  terms  of  employment  may  be  changed,  and  a  strike  or 
lockout  declared.  This  Act  served  as  a  model  for  the  COLORADO 
INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  LAW  and  for  similar  legislation  in  other 
countries. 

Canadian  Labor  Organizations.  The  majority  of  trade 
unionists  in  Canada  are  members  of  local  branches  of  international 
unions  whose  headquarters  are  in  the  United  States  or  (in  two  or 
three  cases)  England.  In  1920  there  were  99  international  unions 
with  Canadian  branches,  the  latter's  membership  aggregating 
260,000.  A  considerable  proportion  of  such  branches,  with  an 
aggregate  membership  in  September,  1920,  of  173,463,  are  federated 
in  the  Dominion  Trades  and  Labor  Congress,  the  "official"  national 
labor  body  of  Canada.  This  organization  is  modelled  to  a  consid- 
erable degree  after  the  British  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS,  being 
largely  a  medium  for  debate,  with  little  if  any  control  over  indus- 
trial policy.  It  works  in  close  cooperation  with  the  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR — to  which  it  is  in  part  subordinate.  The 
principal  labor  bodies  of  Canada  opposed  to  the  international  plan 
of  organization  are  the  National  Catholic  Union,  confined  to  Roman 
Catholic  workers  residing  chiefly  in  the  province  of  Quebec  and 
claiming  35,000  members;  and  the  Canadian  Federation  of  Labor, 
made  up  of  some  twenty  unions  in  Quebec  and  Toronto,  which  has 
made  no  great  headway  as  yet,  having  only  about  5000  members 
in  1920.  There  are  also  other  "independent"  unions  having  none 
but  local  federations.  Although  the  I.  W.  W.  has  always  claimed  a 
considerable  Canadian  membership,  the  radical  labor  movement  is 
chiefly  represented  by  the  ONE  BIG  UNION,  organized  in  1919 — 
originally  as  a  secession  movement  from  the  Dominion  Trades  and 
Labor  Congress.  The  One  Big  Union  has  made  rapid  headway, 
chiefly  in  the  Western  provinces,  and  in  1920  it  claimed  a  member- 

[56] 


ship  of  70,000.  The  conservative  labor  movement  of  Canada  is 
represented  on  the  political  side  in  the  various  Independent  Labor 
Parties  which  have  been  formed  in  every  province  except  one.  The 
radical  elements  are  chiefly  represented  by  the  Socialist  Party  of 
Canada,  a  revolutionary  socialist  body  whose  main  strength  is  in  the 
West. 

Can't  Strike  Law.  See  COLORADO  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION 
LAW. 

Capital  Sharing.  A  term  sometimes  applied  to  the  plan  of 
permitting  the  employees  of  an  industrial  enterprise  to  share  in  the 
ownership  of  the  enterprise  through  the  acquirement  of  shares  of 
stock — either  by  means  of  purchase,  often  on  easy  terms  or  at  a 
reduced  ;  ate,  or  in  lieu  of  cash  or  deferred  payments  due  the  workers 
under  some  plan  of  PROFIT  SHARING.  When  all  the  stock  is  owned 
by  the  workers,  the  term  "capital  sharing  '  is  of  course  not  appli- 
cable; the  enterprise  in  that  case  becomes  a  cooperative  one.  (See 
LABOR  COPARTNERSHIP;  INDUSTRIAL  PARTNERSHIP.) 

Capitalism  or  Capitalistic  System.  A  general  designation  for 
the  latest  stage  in  modern  industrial  development,  consisting  in 
essence  of  a  system  in  which  the  comparatively  few  possessors  of 
capital  are  the  dominant  economic  power,  owning  and  controlling 
the  means  of  production;,  the  mass  of  the  people,  although  "free" 
laborers,  being  dependent  wholly  upon  the  wages  allowed  them  for 
their  work  by  the  capitalist  class.  The  effects  of  the  capitalistic 
system  upon  labor  are  well  summarized  in  Groat's  "Organized 
Labor  in  America "  as  follows :  "Production  is  indirect.  Tools  have 
yielded  to  machines.  These  in  turn  have  grown  more  complex 
and  interrelated  until  machinery  has  a  meaning  somewhat  different 
from  machine.  Further,  machinery  has  merged  into  plants.  These 
vast  comp  exes  of  capital  goods  dominate  modern  industry.  In 
them  is  carried  to  a  point  hitherto  undreamed  of  the  DIVISION  OF 
LABOR  and  subdivision  of  processes.  There  are  many  meanings  to 
such  a  situation.  One  is  that  labor  has  been  made  more  dependent 
upon  conditions.  Time  was  when  labor  was  the  shaping  factor  in 
industry  and  tools  and  implements  were  assistants.  Now  the  relation 
is  quite  reversed.  Capital  dominates  and  labor  assists.  This  new 
situation  is  important  in  at  least  three  particulars.  First:  there 
is  a  separation  of  the  workman  from  his  tools.  These  tools  are  now 
parts  of  an  industrial  plant.  Without  them  labor  is  ineffective. 
With  them  production  is  enormously  stimulated.  But  empty-handed 

[57] 


labor  is  at  a  tremendous  disadvantage.  Second:  men  formerly 
produced  for  purposes  of  consumption.  The  relation  was  very  direct. 
Now  production  is  much  more  indirectly  related  to  consumption. 
Formerly  the  laborer  saw  the  result  of  his  labor  growing  into  a  product 
the  disposition  of  which,  if  not  its  consumption,  would  lie  largely  in 
his  own  hands.  Labor  now  works  for  wages,  scarcely  knowing  what 
it  is  producing.  Its  chief  concern  now  is  not  the  'creation  of  utili- 
ties,' but  rather  it  is  getting  and  keeping  a  'job.'  Third:  (and  natur- 
ally following  from  these  two)  the  workman  is  dependent  upon  others 
for  the  opportunity  to  work."  No  one  who  wishes  to  think  straight 
on  economic  and  industrial  matters  should  confuse  "capital"  with 
"capitalism."  The  former  is  a  permanent  economic  entity;  the  latter 
is  an  artificial  and  probably  transient  system  resulting  from  the 
private  ownership  and  control,  to  the  present  time,  of  that  entity. 
It  is  capitalism,  not  capital,  which  SOCIALISM  and  the  REVOLUTIONARY 
LABOR  MOVEMENT  seek  to  abolish.  Socialism,  in  fact,  would  enor- 
mously extend  and  strengthen  the  legitimate  functions  of  capital; 
and  the  popular  conception  of  a  fundamental  antagonism  between 
"labor"  and  "capital"  is  merely  a  widespread  fiction,  based  on  false 
definitions  and  careless  thinking.  (See  ABSENTEE  CAPITALISM; 
LABOR;  SURPLUS  VALUE  THEORY;  EXPLOITATION;  PROFITS  SYSTEM; 
WAGE  SLAVERY.) 

Captains  of  Industry.  An  expression  often  applied  to  em- 
ployers of  labor  on  a  large  scale.  It  implies  the  conception  of  "labor  " 
as  forming  the  rank  and  file  of  a  huge  industrial  army,  of  which  the 
employers  of  labor  are  the  directing  and  responsible  officers.  (See 
ENTREPRENEUR;  LABOR  LIEUTENANTS.) 

Card  Inspector.     See  SHOP  STEWARD. 

Card  Men.  Those  members  of  any  labor  organization  who 
carry  DUE  CARDS,  WORKING  CARDS,  or  other  proof  of  union  member- 
ship "in  good  standing,"  are  often  so  called. 

Card  System.  Among  American  trade  unionists,  this  term  is 
commonly  used  with  specific  reference  to  the  system  of  TRANSFER 
CARDS  and  TRAVELLING  CARDS,  by  which  MEMBERS  IN  GOOD  STANDING 
of  a  national  union  may  secure  entrance  into  any  LOCAL  of  such 
union  without  the  usual  formalities  and  expense.  In  his  book  on 
"Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions,"  F.  E.  Wolfe  says:  "Through 
the  mechanism  of  the  '  card  system '  a  local  union  under  the  national 
pact  was  bound  to  admit  worthy  members  and  to  exclude  offending 
workmen  of  other  unions.  Each  member  in  good  standing  by  ob- 

[58] 


taming  a  'card'  thus  secured  a  right  to  admission  into  any  other 
local  union.  The  advantage  of  excluding  the  expelled  and  anti- 
union  workmen  of  one  local  union  by  others  was  also  obtained  through 
this  national  cooperation." 

Card  Vote.    See  VOTING  BY  CARD. 

Casual  Labor.  Unskilled  help,  employed  and  discharged  at 
frequent  intervals,  and  dependent  upon  the  varying  demand  of  the 
LABOR  MARKET  from  day  to  day,  without  any  prospect  of  continuous 
employment.  Such  workers  are  commonly  referred  to  as  "casuals." 
According  to  Drage's  "The  Unemployed,"  casual  labor  "is  found 
almost  invariably  to  involve  deterioration  in  both  the  physique  and 
character  of  those  engaged  in  it.  Their  physical  strength  is  reduced 
by  the  alternation  of  longer  or  shorter  periods  of  work  with  intervals 
of  slackness  and  consequent  privation.  .  .  .  The  hopeless  hand-to- 
mouth  existence  into  which  they  thus  tend  to  drift  is  of  all  things 
least  conducive  to  thrift;  self-reliance  is  weakened,  and  habits  of 
idleness,  unsteadiness  and  intemperance  formed.  .  .  .  The  effects 
of  such  casual  work  are  even  more  marked  in  the  next  generation. 
Apart  from  inherited  tendencies,  the  children  of  this  class  grow  up 
without  any  training,  technical  or  moral,  such  as  would  fit  them 
to  enter  a  trade,  or  if  they  entered  it,  to  remain  in  it.  They  are  forced 
to  join  the  ranks  of  unskilled  and  casual  labor,  and  thus,  under  the 
same  influences  which  beset  their  parents,  they  not  only  become 
incapable  of  regular  work,  but  cease  to  desire  it,  preferring  to  pick 
up  a  precarious  living  by  means  of  odd  jobs  and  charity."  While 
all  MIGRATORY  LABOR  is  casual  labor,  the  "casual"  is  by  no  means 
always  a  "migratory."  (See  DECASUALIZATION ;, SEASONAL  OCCUPA- 
TIONS; RESERVE  OF  LABOR;  PARASITIC  INDUSTRIES;  UNDER-EMPLOY- 
MENT,  PORT  LABOR  COMMITTEES;  ROYALS;  DOCK  WOLLOPERS; 
SHENANGOES.) 

Ce-Ge-Te-ist.  An  advocate  of  SYNDICALISM  is  often  thus 
designated.  The  term  is  derived  from  the  initials  of  the  CONFED- 
ERATION GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL,  within  which  body  the  syndicalist 
philosophy  largely  developed. 

Cedar  Rapids  Plan.  In  1895,  representatives  of  the  four 
principal  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS  adopted  a  joint  agreement  pro- 
viding that  the  chairmen  of  the  GRIEVANCE  COMMITTEES  of  the  several 
brotherhoods  represented  on  any  one  railway  system  might  constitute 
a  general  federated  committee  for  that  system,  with  certain  powers 
of  independent  action  in  the  settlement  of  grievances,  calling  of 

[59] 


strikes,  etc.    This  scheme  of  SYSTEM  FEDERATION  is  commonly  known 
as  the  "Cedar  Rapids  plan."    (See  BROTHERHOOD  COOPERATIONS.) 

Central  Body.  As  generally  understood  in  the  American 
labor  movement,  this  term  denotes  a  city  federation  of  labor  (more 
commonly  known  as  a  CITY  CENTRAL),  but  it  is  also  occasionally 
used  in  designation  of  a  STATE  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  as  well.  These 
two  forms  of  federation  are  sometimes  differentiated  as  "local  central 
body"  and  "state  central  body";  but,  as  a  rule,  the  term  "central 
body"  denotes  a  city  federation. 

Central  Competitive  Field.  See  INTERSTATE  JOINT  CON- 
FERENCES IN  THE  COAL-MINING  INDUSTRY. 

Central  Executive  or  National  Executive.  The  governing 
council  of  a  British  national  trade  union  is  thus  designated.  As 
described  by  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  "National  Executive  Councils  are  mostly 
bodies  which  meet  periodically  at  quarterly  or  even  rarer  intervals, 
and  consist  of  members  who  are  actually  working  at  their  trades. 
Such  bodies  naturally  cannot  superintend  effectively  the  day-to-day 
work  of  their  Societies,  which  falls  more  and  more  under  the  control 
of  the  Head  Office  officials.  To  the  Executive,  however,  are  referred 
matters  of  general  importance,  and  especially  all  matters  which 
cannot  be  dealt  with  in  accordance  with  precedents  already  laid 
down.  They  are,  in  a  sense,  the  supreme  executive  bodies  of  their 
Societies;  but  their  supremacy  may  usually  be  seriously  threatened 
by  a  strong-minded  GENERAL  SECRETARY.  This  is  not  the  case  where 
the  Executive  Council  is  a  full-time  body,  sitting  as  a  permanent 
Cabinet  of  officers;  but  there  are  only  two  Unions  in  which  such 
Executives  exist.  In  these  cases  the  Executive  tends  rather  to  re- 
duce the  general  secretary  and  the  other  officials  to  a  secondary 
position,  and  to  assume  wide  powers  in  the  direction  of  the  Union's 
policy."  (See  BRITISH  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZATION.) 

Central  Labor  College.  A  British  institution  for  WORKING- 
CLASS  EDUCATION  in  the  social  sciences — economics,  history,  sociology, 
and  philosophic  logic.  It  was  founded  in  1909  (originally  in  Oxford, 
now  in  London),  as  a  radical  secession  movement  from  RUSKIN 
COLLEGE.  Since  1914  it  has  been  controlled  and  largely  financed 
by  two  prominent  British  trade  unions — the  South  Wales  Miners' 
Federation  and  the  National  Union  of  Rai  waymen.  In  addition  to 
its  residential  courses,  the  college  also  carries  on  a  system  of  tutorial 
lecture  classes  in  other  centres  and  a  correspondence  department. 
The  students  in  residence  do  part  of  the  housework  of  the  college, 

[60] 


which  is  governed  by  the  most  rigid  discipline.  Up  to  this  time  the 
Central  Labor  College  has  been  conspicuously  a  Marxian  socialist 
institution.  (See  PLEBS  LEAGUE.) 

Central  Labor  Union.     See  CITY  CENTRAL. 

Centrale  d'Education  Ouvriere  (Belgian).  See  WORKING- 
CLASS  EDUCATION. 

Centralization,  Decentralization.  In  the  labor  movement,' 
these  terms  commonly  refer  to  the  amount  or  degree  of  authority 
vested  in  the  central  organization  of  a  national  labor  body,  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  the  authority  vested  in  its  local  branches. 
If  wholly  or  mainly  vested  in  the  former,  the  organization  is  said  to 
be  "centralized";  if  in  the  latter,  it  is  said  to  be  "decentralized.", 
(See  AUTONOMY.) 

Centralno  Radnitchko  Sindikalno  Vetche  (Central  Trade 
Union  Council).  The  governing  'body  of  the  radical  trade  unions 
and  workers  of  Jugo-Slavia,  representing  an  affiliated  membership 
of  250,000  in  1920.  It  works  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Com- 
munist Party.  The  Social  Democratic  workers  of  Jugo-Slavia  are 
federated  in  a  rival  body  called  the  General  Workers'  Federation, 
with  about  10,000  members. 

C  e  ntre .  That  group  in  any  organized  movement  or  body  which 
represents  liberal  or  compromise  opinion  and  policies,  occupying 
a  middle  position  between  the  radical  LEFT  and  the  conservative 
RIGHT.  Members  of  this  group  are  usually  called  "centrists." 

Centrists.     See  CENTRE. 

Ceremonial  in  Trade  Unionism.  Many  of  the  early  labor 
organizations,  both  in  England  and  the  United  States,  were  essen- 
tially secret  societies,  patterned  in  large  part  after  the  masonic  and 
other  fraternal  orders  of  the  time.  The  mystery  which  surrounds 
the  masonic  orders,  the  elaborate  ceremonial,  and  the  gorgeous 
regalia  have  proved  attractive  to  many  trade  unionists,  who  still 
retain  these  features  in  their  organizations.  It  is  felt  that  rituals 
and  ceremonies,  particularly  in  connection  with  initiations,  have  a 
valuable  effect  in  binding  members  more  closely  to  the  organization; 
while  the  system  of  "grips,"  "signs,"  and  "passwords"  helps  greatly 
to  exclude  spies  and  other  hostile  elements  from  union  meetings. 
The  use  of  such  terms  as  "lodge,"  "grand  lodge,"  "grand  master," 
"chaplain,"  "inner"  and  "outer"  "guards"  or  "sentinels,"  "war- 
den," "marshall,"  etc.,  is  of  course  copied  from  the  masonic  orders. 

[61] 


Chambers  of  Labor.  See  BOURSES  DU  TRAVAIL;  CAMERA 
DEL  LAVORO;  ARBEITERKAMMERN;  KAMERS  VAN  ARBEID. 

Chambre  Consultative  des  Associations  Ouvrieres  de 
Production.  See  ASSOCIATIONS  OUVRIERES  DE  PRODUCTION. 

Chapel.  A  form  of  organization  of  long  standing  in  the  printing 
trades;  consisting  of  all  the  printers  in  a  particular  shop  or  estab- 
lishment, who  meet  regularly  to  consider  matters  relating  to  wages, 
working  conditions,  etc.  It  is  so  called  because  of  the  fact  that 
Caxton  set  up  the  first  English  printing  press  in  a  disused  chapel  of 
Westminister  Abbey.  The  presiding  workman  is  styled  "father  of 
the  chapel."  In  the  International  Typographical  Union,  the  chapel 
is  in  reality  a  SUB-LOCAL,  or  the  smallest  unit  of  organization.  A 
chapel  is  formed  in  each  separate  shop  employing  three  or  more 
workers.  The  chapel  elects  a  chairman  and  a  secretary,  and  the 
chairman  is  the  representative  of  the  employees  in  that  shop  in  all 
transactions  with  the  employers.  He  is  bound  to  see  that  union 
regulations  are  strictly  complied  with,  and  makes  a  monthly  report 
to  the  local  union  as  to  such  compliance  and  as  to  the  conditions  of 
the  shop  generally.  The  chapel  makes  recommendations  to  its  local 
union  as  to  the  advisable  course  of  action  in  disputes  with  employers. 
(See  CLICKING  SYSTEM.) 

Character  or  Character  Note.     See  LEAVING  CERTIFICATE. 

Charge -Hand.  A  petty  foreman  or  GANG  BOSS  is  often  so 
called  in  England. 

Charter  Fee.  One  of  the  two  main  sources  of  revenue  for 
a  national  trade  union  is  the  fee  charged  for  issuing  charters  to  local 
unions  when  the  latter  join  the  national  organization.  The  charter 
is  in  effect  a  certificate  of  membership,  and  the  sum  charged  is  in 
effect  an  INITIATION  FEE.  The  charter  fee  usually  includes  provision 
for  a  complete  outfit  of  books  and  stationery,  including  a  seal. 
In  the  case  of  federations  of  national  unions,  and  similar  federated 
bodies,  the  constituent  units  pay  charter  fees  to  the  federal  organiza- 
tion on  practically  the  same  basis. 

Charter -Master  System.     See  BUTTY  SYSTEM. 

Chartism.  A  radical  political  reform  movement  in  England 
during  the  first  half  of  the  ipth  century,  so  called  from  the  document 
(the  "People's  Charter"  or  "National  Charter")  in  which  the  scheme 
of  reforms  was  embodied.  The  movement  played  an  important  part 

[62] 


in  English  working-class  annals  from  1837  to  1842.  But  while 
Chartism  commanded  the  support  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  manual- 
working  wage-earners,  outside  the  ranks  of  those  who  were  deeply 
religious,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  trade  unions  at  any  time  became  part 
and  parcel  of  the  movement. 

Chasse  aux  Renard  (Hunting  the  Fox).  In  France,  where 
PICKETING  is  illegal,  various  clandestine  methods  are  followed  by 
workmen  on  strike  to  prevent  SCABS  and  BLACKLEGS  from  taking 
their  places.  These  methods  are  collectively  known  in  labor  circles 
under  the -slang  phrase,  chasse  aux  renard,  or  (in  English)  "hunting 
the  fox." 

Check -Docking  Boss.    See  DOCKAGE  SYSTEM. 

Check -Off  System.  A  method,  at  one  time  common  in  the 
coal-mining  industry,  by  which  union  dues,  fines,  assessments,  etc., 
are  deducted  by  the  employer  from  the  workers'  wages  on  pay-day 
and  turned  over  directly  to  the  officers  of  the  union.  In  addition, 
the  amount  due  from  each  miner  in  remuneration  of  the  CHECK- 
WEIGHER  and  "check-docking  boss"  was  often  deducted  in  similar 
fashion.  The  term  "check-off  system"  is  also  sometimes  applied  to 
the  method  of  deducting  from  the  worker's  wages  amounts  due  the 
employer  for  merchandise  bought  in  a  COMPANY  STORE,  rent  for 
occupancy  of  a  company  house,  fees  for  COMPANY  DOCTORS,  and  similar 
charges. 

Check  Steward.     See  STEWARD. 

Checkweigher  or  Checkweighman.  In  connection  with  the 
common  practice  of  paying  coal  miners  according  to  the  weight 
of  the  coal  they  produce,  it  is  customary  for  the  workers  of  a  mine 
to  appoint  a  paid  agent  who  checks  the  weighing  of  coal  by  the  com- 
pany, keeps  a  full  and  independent  record  of  each  man's  work,  and 
protects  the  miners'  interests  in  all  matters  connected  with  the 
weighing  process.  The  checkweigher  system  has  played  an  important 
part  in  the  history  of  miners'  organizations.  In  England,  after  a 
bitter  struggle  lasting  for  several  decades,  the  system  was  fully 
established  by  a  Parliamentary  act  in  1887,  confirmed  in  1911. 
According  to  Webb's  "History  of  Trade  Unionism,"  "its  recognition 
and  promotion  of  collective  action  by  the  men  has  been  a  direct 
incitement  to  combination.  The  compulsory  levy,  upon  the  whole 
pit,  of  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  agent  whom  a  bare  majority 
could  decide  to  appoint  has  practically  found,  for  each  colliery,  a 

[63] 


branch  secretary  free  of  expense  to  the  Union.  But  the  result  upon 
the  character  of  the  officials  has  been  even  more  important.  The 
checkweigher  has  to  be  a  man  of  character  insensible  to  the  bully- 
ing or  blandishments  of  manager  or  employers.  He  must  be  of 
strictly  regular  habits,  accurate  and  businesslike  in  mind,  and  quick 
at  figures.  The  ranks  of  the  checkweighers  serve  thus  as  an  admir- 
able recruiting  ground  from  which  a  practically  inexhaustible  supply 
of  efficient  Trade  Union  secretaries  or  labor  representatives  can  be 
drawn."  In  England,  the  checkweighman  has  also  the  legal  right  to 
act  as  an  inspector  of  mines.  The  checkweigher  system  prevails  in 
some  other  industries  also,  where  the  workers'  wages  depend  upon 
the  weight  or  quantity  of  output.  (See  TURN  LIST.) 

Chicago  I.  W.  W.    See  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OP  THE  WORLD. 
Chief  Deputy.    See  DEPUTIES. 

Child  Labor.  This  term  usually  refers  to  the  employment  of 
children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  in  any  form  of  industrial  opera- 
tions, where  the  primary  motive  is  that  of  profit  rather  than  of 
training.  Even  at  the  beginning  of  the  ipth  century,  according  to 
Francis  A.  Walker,  children  of  five  and  even  of  three  years  of  age  were 
employed  in  English  factories  and  brickyards.  These  conditions 
have  gradually  been  improved,  until  at  present  the  public  conscience 
generally  approves  a  minimum  age-limit  of  fourteen  years  and  the 
requirement  of  EMPLOYMENT  CERTIFICATES  until  sixteen,  with  com- 
pulsory school  attendance  up  to  fourteen  and  from  that  age  until 
sixteen  if  a  child  is  not  employed.  In  the  United  States  child  labor 
is  employed  most  extensively  in  textile  factories,  particularly  the 
southern  cotton  mills,  and  in  agriculture.  But  considerable  numbers 
of  children  are  utilized  in  the  manufacture  of  clothing,  especially 
in  SWEAT  SHOPS,  and  also  in'  glass  factories,  as  well  as  in  a  variety 
of  other  employments,  such  as  the  making  of  artificial  flowers,  feath- 
ers, neckties,  cigars,  paper  and  wooden  boxes,  picture  frames, 
furniture,  boots  and  shoes.  Probably  the  most  serious  and  far- 
reaching  effect  of  child  labor  is  the  prevention  of  normal  develop- 
ment, physical  and  mental.  Besides  being  deprived  of  the  schooling 
they  would  otherwise  get,  children  are  injured  by -confinement  and 
sometimes  worn  out  by  OVERWORK.  In  other  cases  the  work  is 
demoralizing  because  it  does  not  call  out  the  best  faculties  of  the 
children,  or  leaves  them  idle  part  of  the  time.  It  has  been  found  that 
children  are  much  more  liable  to  accidents  in  factories  than  are 
adults;  also  that  overwork  and  strain  of  the  muscular  and  nervous 
systems  are  much  more  serious  in  children  than  in  adults,  and  that 

[64] 


children  are  more  susceptible  to  the  poisons  and  injurious  dusts  aris- 
ing in  certain  processes  than  are  grown  persons.  Besides  the  deplor- 
able physical,  mental,  and  moral  effects  of  child  labor  upon  the 
children,  certain  widespread  economic  effects  of  their  employment 
must  be  considered.  The  most  serious  of  these  is  the  displacement 
of  adults  by  children.  Child  labor  must  be  counted  as  one  of  the 
important  causes  of  UNEMPLOYMENT  among  adults.  For  some  par- 
ticular processes  young  persons  are  preferred  to  adults  because  of 
greater  nimbleness  or  manual  dexterity;  but  the  principal  cause 
which  leads  to  their  employment  in  place  of  grown  persons  is  prob- 
ably the  lower  wage  at  which  they  can  be  hired.  The  competition 
of  children  with  adults  in  the  labor  market  can  hardly  fail  to  have  the 
effect  of  reducing  the  wages  paid  to  the  latter;  and  it  has  been  found 
by  actual  investigations  that,  where  child  labor  is  most  common,  the 
contribution  of  the  children  is  at  least  partly  offset  by  a  correspond- 
ing loss  in  the  earnings  of  the  adults.  All  states  in  this  country  now 
forbid  the  employment  of  children  in  one  or  more  kinds  of  work 
until  they  have  passed  a  minimum  age  limit — fourteen  years  for 
general  factory  work  in  all  except  five  states.  Some  states  set  a 
limit  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  for  certain  DANGEROUS  OCCUPA- 
TIONS. All  the  larger  European  countries  have  enacted  similar 
legislation.  One  of  the  most  important  acts  of  the  first  GENERAL 
LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS,  held  at  Wash- 
ington in  October,  1919,  was  the  adoption  of  a  draft  convention 
prohibiting  the  employment  of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age 
in  industrial  undertakings.  (See  CHILD  WELFARE  STANDARDS;  HOME 
WORK;  STREET  TRADES;  HALF-TIME  SYSTEM;  KEATING-OWEN  BILL; 
CHILD  LABOR  TAX;  CHILDREN'S  BUREAU;  HOUR  LAWS;  NIGHT  WORK; 
PROHIBITED  EMPLOYMENTS;  FACTORY  AND  WORKSHOP  ACTS;  FAC- 
TORY INSPECTION;  FAMILY  WAGE;  MINIMUM  WAGE  LAWS;  CON- 
SUMERS' LEAGUES;  BLIND  ALLEY  OCCUPATIONS.) 

Child  Labor  Tax.  The  Federal  Revenue  Act  of  1919  imposes 
a  tax  of  ten  per  cent  on  the  entire  net  profits  of  any  mine,  quarry, 
mill,  cannery,  workshop,  factory,  or  manufacturing  establishment 
employing  children  under  certain  ages  or  outside  of  certain  estab- 
lished hours  of  employment.  The  basis  for  the  tax  is  employment 
in  a  mine  or  quarry  of  a  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age;  or  in  a  mill, 
cannery,  workshop,  factory,  or  manufacturing  establishment  of  a  child 
under  fourteen  years  of  age;  or  of  a  child  between  fourteen  and  six- 
teen for  more  than  eight  hours  a  day,  or  more  than  six  days  a  week, 
or  before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  or  after  seven  o'clock  in  the 


evening.  The  law  creates  a  Child  Labor  Tax  Board,  consisting  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR,  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue,  for  the  purpose  of  formally 
determining  some  of  the  important  questions  pertaining  to  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law,  which  became  effective  April  25,  1919.  The 
immediate  purpose  of  this  tax  is  to  make  the  employment  of  children 
in  American  industry  unprofitable.  A  previous  Congressional 
measure  directed  against  child  labor,  the  KEATING-OWEN  BILL,  was 
declared  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  1918;  and  it 
was  therefore  necessary  for  Congress  to  base  its  attack  upon  wholly 
different  grounds,  as  provided  in  its  power  to  levy  taxes. 

Child  Labor  Tax  Board.     See  CHILD  LABOR  TAX. 

Child  Welfare  Standards.  In  May,  1919,  the  Child  Welfare 
Congress  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  CHILDREN'S  BUREAU  of  the 
UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  formulated  the  following 
minimum  standards:  (i)  Age  requirement  of  sixteen  years  before 
beginning  work;  (2)  full  time  education  between  the  ages  of  seven 
and  sixteen,  and  part  time  up  to  age  of  eighteen;  (3)  certificate  of 
physical  fitness  as  a  prerequisite  to  issuance  of  a  working  certificate. 

Children's  Bureau.  Created  by  act  of  April  9,  1912,  as  a  part 
of  the  Federal  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  this  Bureau 
was  transferred  to  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
when  that  Department  was  separately  organized  inj  March,  1913. 
The  act  creating  the  Bureau  provides  that  it  shall  investigate  and 
report  upon  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  children  and  child 
life  among  all  classes  of  our  people,  and  shall  especially  investigate 
the  questions  of  infant  mortality,  the  birth  rate,  orphanage,  juvenile 
courts,  desertion,  DANGEROUS  OCCUPATIONS,  accidents,  diseases  of 
children,  employment,  and  legislation  affecting  children  in  the  sev- 
eral states  and  territories.  Notwithstanding  the  miserly  financial 
support  accorded  it  by  Congress,  the  Bureau  has  initiated  and  con- 
ducted a  wide  variety  of  activities,  the  importance  of  which  could 
scarcely  be  over-estimated. 

Childs-Drexel  Home  for  Union  Printers.  A  permanent 
home  for  sick  and  needy  members  of  the  printing  and  allied  crafts, 
maintained  since  1892  at  Colorado  Springs  by  the  International 
Typographical  Union.  A  gift  of  $10,000  from  George  W.  Childs 
and  A.  J.  Drexel  of  Philadelphia  was  used  as  a  basis  for  the  home, 
but  most  of  the  preliminary  cost  was  met  by  the  union,  which  also 
bears  the  entire  running  expenses.  The  home  is  open  to  all  union 

[66] 


printers  who  are  recommended  for  its  benefits  by  local  unions  and 
deemed  eligible  by  the  central  board  of  trustees.  No  payment  is 
made  and  no  work  is  performed  by  the  inmates. 

Chinese  Exclusion  Laws.  Beginning  in  1882,  Congress  has 
passed  several  laws  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  prevent  the  IMMI- 
GRATION of  Chinese  laborers.  Several  classes  of  persons  are  specific- 
ally exempted  from  the  provisions  of  the  law.  These  are,  (i)  any 
Chinese  laborer  who  is  registered  and  who  has  "a  lawful  wife,  child 
or  parent  in  the  United  States,  or  property  therein  of  the  value  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  or  debts  of  like  amount  due  him  and  pending 
settlement,"  (2)  "officials,  teachers,  students,  merchants,  or  travel- 
lers for  curiosity  or  pleasure,"  and  (3)  wives  and  minor  children  of 
members  of  the  exempt  classes.  Chinese  born  in  this  country  belong 
to  the  class  of  so-called  "native  sons"  and  are,  of  course,  entitled  to 
admission  at  any  time.  Chinese  laborers  must  be  registered,  and  must 
obtain  before  departure  from  this  country  certificates  showing  the 
right  to  return,  which,  however,  are  good  for  only  one  year.  Mem- 
bers of  the  second  exempt  class,  officials,  teachers,  students,  mer- 
chants, and  travellers,  must  have  certificates  from  their  own  govern- 
ment vise'd  by  a  diplomatic  or  consular  representative  of  the  United 
States.  All  Chinese  found  unlawfully  in  this  country  are  deported. 
According  to  the  1920  report  of  the  IMMIGRATION  BUREAU,  "the 
Chinese  exclusion  law  has  been  modified  by  court  decisions  to  such 
an  extent  as  in  large  measure  to  defeat  its  purpose  of  preventing 
Chinese  from  entering  the  labor  market  of  this  country."  (See 
COOLIE  LABOR;  ASIATIC  BARRED  ZONE.) 

Chinese  Labor  in  the  United  States.     See  COOLIE  LABOR. 

Chinese  Labor  Organizations.  Although  labor  in  China 
can  not  be  said  to  be  organized  in  the  sense  that  labor  in  Europe 
and  America  is  organized,  there  have  been  in  China  from  time  im- 
memorial guilds  which  have  played  an  important  part  in  the  life  of 
the  people.  These  guilds  are  composed  either  of  natives  of  the  same 
province  or  town,  or  merchants  or  craftsmen  in  the  same  line  of 
business.  They  have,  speaking  generally,  not  concerned  themselves 
so  much  with  rates  of  wages  or  labor  conditions  as  with  the  pro- 
tection of  their  members  against  official  exactions  and  the  rendering 
of  assistance  in  money  or  kind  in  time  of  trouble.  Of  late  years, 
and  more  especially  since  the  war,  these  guilds  have  increased  in 
number,  and  in  a  place  like  Shanghai  they  now  embrace  almost  every 
form  of  labor,  skilled  and  unskilled.  Chinese  trade  unionism,  in 
the  Western  sense  of  that  term,  began  with  the  revolution  in  1911, 

[67] 


and  has  made  noticeable  progress  since  1919.  The  movement 
centres  chiefly  in  Shanghai  and  the  ports,  but  it  is  still  of  a  very 
weak  and  sporadic  character.  A  so-called  "All-China  Federation 
of  Trade  Unions"  maintains  headquarters  in  Shanghai,  although 
no  definite  details  as  to  its  scope  and  structure  are  available. 

Christelyk  National  Vakverbond  (Christian  National  Fed- 
eration). See  DUTCH  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Christian  Socialism.  A  movement  to  apply  Christian  ethics 
to  social  reform,  and  to  supplant  industrial  competition  by  co- 
operative effort  and  MUTUAL  AID;  originating  in  England  about 
1848-1852,  and  led  by  Frederick  Maurice,  Charles  Kingsley,  and 
others.  It  is  distinguished  from  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM  in  its  aversion 
to  the  CLASS  STRUGGLE,  and  from  orthodox  Christianity  in  its  con- 
tempt for  private  property.  The  Christian  socialists  rendered  im- 
portant aid  to  the  English  trade  union  movement  of  their  time. 
Various  forms  of  social  theory  exist  in  several  countries  today  under 
the  name  of  Christian  socialism,  differing  not  only  from  the  original 
movement  but  among  themselves.  However,  it  is  the  original  Eng- 
lish movement  that  is  usually  denoted  by  this  term.  (See  SOCIALISM.) 

Christian  Unions.  In  most  of  the  continental  European 
countries,  where  the  trade  unions  are  predominantly  socialistic  in 
aims  and  policies,  a  more  or  less  formidable  labor  element  is  organized 
in  the  so-called  "Christian  unions,"  which  are  fostered  by  the 
churches  and  are  strongly  anti-socialistic.  Sometimes  these  unions 
consist  wholly  of  Roman  Catholic  workers;  but  more  often,  perhaps, 
they  are  open  to  Protestants  also.  Occasionally,  as  in  Holland, 
the  Roman  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  workers  are  separately 
organized.  (See  BLACK  UNIONS;  WHITE  UNIONS;  CHRISTLICHEN 
GEWERKSCHAFTEN.) 

Christlichen  Gewerkschaften  (Christian  Trade  Unions). 
These  German  labor  organizations  were  started  in  1893,  chiefly  as 
a  means  of  preventing  the  Roman  Catholic  workers  from  entering 
into  the  centralized  unions  (ZENTRALVERBANDE)-and  thus  running  the 
danger  of  being  permeated  with  Social  Democratic  principles.  The 
Christian  trade  unions  are  at  one  with  the  Hirsch-Duncker  GEWERK- 
VEREINE  in  declaring  that  there  should  be  perfect  harmony  between 
employers  and  employed,  and  their  leaders  are  the  relentless  oppon- 
ents of  Social  Democratic  ideas.  Nevertheless,  occasions  have  arisen 
when  the  members  of  the  Christian  trade  unions  have  taken  united 
action  with  those  of  the  centralized  unions  in  strikes  and  lockouts. 

[68] 


The  Christian  trade  unions  have  made  much  more  substantial 
progress  than  the  Hirsch-Duncker  Gewerkuerine,  though  they  are 
still  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  huge  Zentralverbdnde.  The 
bulk  of  the  members  are  miners,  textile  operatives,  metal  workers, 
building  trades  workers,  and  railway  men.  In  1919  the  Christian 
unions  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Trade  Union  of  Non-Manual 
Workers  and  the  Union  of  German  Officials,  for  the  purpose  of  oppos- 
ing class  warfare  and  internationalism  and  promoting  "national 
ideals."  This  alliance  was  reported  to  represent  a  combined  member- 
ship of  1,700,000  at  the  end  of  1919..  The  Christian  unions  alone  had 
a  membership  in  1919  of  one  million. 

Citizens'  Alliances.  In  some  of  the  larger  American  cities 
this  title  is  sometimes  assumed  by  local  associations  formed  for 
the  chief  purpose  of  opposing  organized  labor.  Such  an  association 
does  not  restrict  membership  to  employers,  but  admits  citizens  in 
all  walks  of  life.  The  only  qualifications  are  that  "the  applicant  be 
not  a  member  of  any  labor  organization  which  resorts  to  boycotting 
or  any  form  of  coercion  or  unlawful  force,"  and  that  he  be  recom- 
mended by  two  members  of  the  alliance.  These  organizations  are 
frequently  started  by  employers  to  secure  cooperation  of  citizens 
generally,  and  are  considered  more  effective  than  associations 
composed  only  of  employers  in  combating  trade  unionism  in  par- 
ticular localities.  The  membership  is  representative  of  all  classes 
of  citizens,  and  the  executive  committee  is  able  to  bring  pressure 
to  bear  wherever  it  may  be  most  needed.  In  some  places  there 
are  two  organizations,  an  employers'  association  and  the  citizens' 
alliance.  Many  employers  are  members  of  both,  and  they  often  get 
their  trusted  employees  to  join  the  alliance. 

Citizenship  Training  Division.  See  NATURALIZATION 
BUREAU. 

City  Central.  In  the  American  labor  movement,  a  delegate 
body  representative  of  the  various  local  unions  in  a  single  city  and 
(usually)  the  outlying  districts.  "It  embraces  unrelated  trades, 
and  has  no  other  bond  of  union  than  the  general  notion  of  the  unity 
of  the  whole  working  class.  Because  of  the  lack  of  close  relation 
between  the  employments  of  its  members,  a  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE, 
if  it  should  recommend  one,  would  not  be  an  efficient  weapon.  It 
does  not  as  a  rule  directly  raise  funds  for  the  support  of  the  contests 
of  its  constituent  unions.  Its  actual  economic  activity  is  almost 
limited  to  the  BOYCOTT,  and  to  pressure  upon  employers  enforced 
6  [69] 


by  fear  of  the  boycott.  It  has,  however,  a  second  sphere  of  activity 
in  POLITICAL  ACTION.  The  conditions  of  labor  in  public  employments 
offer  a  legitimate  and  important  field  for  it,  and  there  are  many 
legal  regulations  which  interest  the  working  people  as  citizens,  and 
upon  which,  perhaps,  they  can  best  exert  an  influence  through  some 
such  organization."  Delegates  to  the  city  central  are  usually  elected 
on  a  proportional  basis;  there  is  commonly  a  permanent  staff  of 
administrative  officers;  and  regular  meetings  are  he'd  weekly  or  less 
frequently.  Most,  but  not  all,  city 'centrals  are  affiliated  with  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  and  are  entitled  to  direct  repre- 
sentation in  the  annual  conventions  of  that  body.  As  a  general  rule, 
city  centrals  have  no  autonomous  power,  but  exist  for  mutual  dis- 
cusssion,  education,  and  joint  action  in  connection  with  local  affairs 
involving  or  affecting  labor  interests.  They  are  known  in  different 
cities  under  a  great  variety  of  names,  of  which  "central  labor  union" 
and  "city  federation  of  labor"  are  perhaps  the  most  common. 

City  Federation  of  Labor.    See  CITY  CENTRAL. 
Civic  Federation.     See  NATIONAL  Civic  FEDERATION. 

Clart6.  A  French  word  meaning  "clearness,"  "light";  the 
name  of  an  international  association  of  INTELLECTUALS,  who  seek  to 
form  a  world-wide  federal  cooperative  commonwealth  or  "an  Inter- 
nationale of  ideas  working  with  and  for  the  INTERNATIONALE  of  labor." 
The  organization  was  started  in  France  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
recent  war,  and  it  now  has  sections  or  branches  in  several  other 
countries. 

Class  Consciousness.  According  to  the  American  socialist, 
Morris  Hillquit,  the  inhabitants  of  every  country  "may  always  be 
divided  into  several  groups  of  persons  with  reference  to  their  source 
of  income  or  mode  of  acquiring  the  material  means  of  their  existence. 
Within  each  group  the  single  individuals  may  strive  for  the  largest 
possible  share  of  the  common  income;  but  as  against  all  the  other 
elements  of  society,  each  of  such  groups  is  interested  in  the  main- 
tenance and  increase  of  its  special  revenue  or  material  wealth.  Each 
of  such  social  groups  constitutes  a  separate  'class'  of  society,  and  the 
characteristic  features  of  every  class  are  these :  its  individual  members 
are  united  in  their  general  economic  interest  with  each  other,  and  as 
a  whole  they  are  opposed  to  all  other  classes  contending  with  them 
for  their  share  of  the  national  wealth."  The  existence  of  such  classes 
thus  creates  the  instincts  commonly  designated  "class  conscious- 
ness," "class  solidarity,"  "class  antagonism,"  etc.,  which  play  so 

[70] 


large  a  part  in  the  social  movements  of  the  times.     (See  CLASS 
STRUGGLE;  BOURGEOISE;  PROLETARIAT;  MIDDLE  CLASS.) 

Class  Solidarity.    See  CLASS  CONSCIOUSNESS. 

Class  Struggle  or  Class  War.  The  Marxian  theory  that 
modern  industrial  society  divides  into  two  main  classes — the  workers 
who  do  not  possess,  and  the  possessors  who  do  not  work;  that  the 
interests  of  these  two  classes  are  inevitably  opposed;  and  that  a 
conflict  is  steadily  being  waged  between  the  two  for  ultimate  domina- 
tion. While  the  theory  of  class  antagonism  was  by  no  means  original 
with  the  founders  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM,  Marx  was  the  first  to 
look  upon  the  class  struggle  as  "the  driving  force  in  social  develop- 
ment" and  to  argue  that  socialism  was  the  necessary  outcome  of 
the  struggle  between  the  two  historically  developed  classes — the 
PROLETARIAT  and  the  BOURGEOISIE.  (See  CLASS  CONSCIOUSNESS.) 

Class  Unionism.  This  term  is  commonly  used  in  two  dis- 
tinct senses.  For  example,  it  is  sometimes  said  that  the  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  and  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD 
are  both  representative  of  class  unionism ;  the  one  because  it  is  mainly 
composed  of  skilled  craft  workers,  the  other  because  it  consists  almost 
wholly  of  unskilled  "casuals"  and  "migratories."  Class  unionism,  in 
this  sense,  may  be  defined  as  the  grouping  of  skilled  workers  and 
unskilled  workers  in  separate  and  to  some  extent  hostile  labor  or- 
ganizations. In  another  sense,  however,  class  unionism  is  sometimes 
defined  as  the  policy  of  uniting  in  a  single  organization  all  the  wage- 
earners  of  one  or  more  countries,  skilled  and  unskilled  alike,  regard- 
less of  craft,  industrial,  or  indeed  any  other  distinctions.  The  ONE 
BIG  UNION  ideal  typifies  this  second  form  of  class  unionism.  In  expla- 
nation of  the  obvious  contradiction  between  the  two  forms,  it  should 
be  noted  that  the  first  definition  of  class  unionism  has  reference  to 
classes  within  the  labor  movement — *.  e.,  skilled  workers  vs.  unskilled; 
whereas  the  second  form  has  reference  to  classes  within  society  as 
a  whole — i.  e.,  wage-earners  vs.  non-wage-earners.  (See  INDUSTRIAL 
UNION.) 

Classification.  In  a  labor  sense,  the  grouping  of  workers 
(in  a  single  plant  or  a  single  industry)  according  to  the  various  grades 
or  kinds  of  work  which  they  perform,  as  a  basis  for  fixing  wage  scales. 
Classification  may  be  determined  by  an  employer  or  a  trade  union, 
acting  independently,  or  by  the  two  jointly,  or  by  an  arbitration 
board.  It  plays  a  particularly  prominent  part  in  the  American 


railway  industry.     (See  WORKING  RULES;  NATIONAL  AGREEMENTS 
IN  THE  RAILWAY  INDUSTRY.) 

Clayton  Act.  A  Federal  anti-trust  law  passed  by  Congress 
in  October,  1914,  containing  certain  sections  relating  to  labor  which 
supposedly  removed  some  of  the  most  serious  restrictions  upon  the 
legal  rights  of  trade  unions.  These  sections  first  declare  that  the  labor 
of  a  human  being  is  not  a  commodity  or  an  article  of  commerce, 
and  that  nothing  in  the  Federal  anti-trust  laws  shall  be  construed 
to  forbid  the  existence  and  operation  of  labor,  agricultural,  or  hor- 
ticultural organizations,  or  to  restrain  them  from  lawfully  carrying 
out  their  objects,  nor  shall  such  organizations  be  construed  to  be 
illegal  combinations  under  the  anti-trust  laws.  The  Act  somewhat 
modifies  the  issuing  and  enforcing  by  the  Federal  courts  of  INJUNC- 
TIONS in  labor  disputes,  prohibiting  their  use  unless  necessary  to 
prevent  irreparable  injury  to  property  rights  for  which  there  is  no 
adequate  remedy  at  law.  Also  injunctions  shall  not  be  issued  against 
striking  and  peaceful  PICKETING,  or  boycotting  by  peaceful  and  lawful 
means,  and  such  acts  shall  not  be  held  to  be  a  violation  of  any  law  of 
the  United  States.  In  cases  of  contempt  of  court  arising  under  this 
Act  the  accused  may  demand  a  trial  by  jury,  except  in  suits  prose- 
cuted by  the  United  States  or  in  cases  of  contempt  in  or  near  the 
presence  of  the  court.  Owing  to  these  provisions,  the  Clayton  Act 
was  at  first  widely  hailed  by  labor  leaders  as  "  the  charter  of  American 
industrial  liberty";  but  in  the  light  of  practical  experience,  it  is  now 
regarded  with  considerably  less  enthusiasm.  (See  DUPLEX  PRINTING 
PRESS  CASE.) 

Clean  Eight -Hour  Day.     See  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY. 
Clear  Card  or  Clearance  Card.     See  TRANSFER  CARD. 

Clearance  Letter.  A  written  statement  often  given  to  an 
employee  at  the  time  of  leaving  a  particular  employer,  usually 
setting  forth  the  length  of  time  he  has  been  in  the  service,  the  kind 
of  work  he  has  done,  and  why  he  is  leaving.  In  some  cases  it  is 
impossible  for  a  worker  to  secure  employment  in  the  same  occupa- 
tion or  district  without  showing  a  "clean"  clearance  letter.  Thus 
by  openly  refusing  such  a  letter  to  a  departing  employee,  or  by  using 
certain  secret  marks  or  forms  of  wording  in  letters  that  are  given, 
it  is  alleged  that  employers  are  able  to  use  the  clearance  letter  system 
as  a  form  of  BLACKLIST,  in  the  case  of  "undesirable"  workers.  The 
clearance  letter  is  also  variously  known  as  a  "clearance,"  "clearance 


paper,"    "clearance   line,"    and    "service   letter."      (See   LEAVING 
CERTIFICATE.) 

Clicking  System.  This  term  is  used  in  the  British  printing 
trade  in  designation  of  the  method  by  which  compositors  on  a 
PIECE  WORK  basis  share  in  the  distribution  of  what  printers  call 
"fat" — that  is  to  say,  profitable  assignments  of  work.  An  official 
known  as  the  "clicker,"  frequently  appointed  and  paid  by  the  CHAPEL, 
hands  out  the  "copy"  (manuscript)  to  the  various  compositors, 
and  endeavors  to  see  that  all  share  fairly  in  the  "fat."  (See  COM- 
PANIONSHIP.) 

Clocking.  The  common  English  equivalent  for  what  is  called 
"timekeeping"  in  the  United  States.  To  "clock  on"  is  to  register 
the  time  of  beginning  work;  while  to  "clock  off  "  is  to  register  the  time 
of  quitting  work.  "Timekeeping"  in  the  British  sense  refers  more 
particularly  to  the  matter  of  attendance  at  or  absence  from  work; 
"bad  timekeeping,"  for  example,  consists  in  being  frequently  absent, 
either  for  one  day  or  for  several  days  at  a  time.  (See  ABSENTEEISM; 
TIMEKEEPING  COMMITTEE.) 

Closed  Camp.  This  name  is  commonly  applied  to  a  LABOR 
CAMP  built  upon  land  owned  by  the  company  that  employs  the 
workers  who  live  in  the  camp.  Because  of  this  private  ownership 
the  company  "not  only  exercises  control  over  the  local  government, 
but  dictates  arbitrarily  who  shall  be  permitted  to  come  into  or  pass 
through  such  communities." 

Closed  Non-Union  Shop..    See  OPEN  SHOP;  AMERICAN  PLAN. 

Closed  Shop.  In  the  early  days  of  trade  unionism,  a  closed 
shop  was  one  "closed"  to  union  members  by  order  of  a  trade  union, 
on  account  of  a  strike  or  boycott  or  because  of  a  lockout  on  the  em- 
ployer's part;  by  the  workers'  own  decision  it  was  "closed"  to  union 
workers.  Gradually,  however,  this  meaning  has  come  to  be  entirely 
reversed.  As  generally  understood  among  trade  unionists  today, 
the  closed  shop  may  be  defined  as  "a  shop  in  which  only  members 
of  the  union  claiming  jurisdiction  are  allowed  to  retain  employment." 
In  its  simplest  form,  as  enforced  by  an  exclusive  and  selfish  CRAFT 
UNION,  this  is  the  prototype  of  the  autocratic  employer's  so-called 
"open  shop" — the  shop  which  is  open  only  to  non-unionists.  But 
in  actual  practice,  most  closed  shops  are  conducted  under  agreements 
that  require  the  union  to  be  kept  freely  open  on  fair  and  equal 
terms  to  all  competent  workers  in  the  trade.  Thus  a  distinction  should 

[73] 


be  made  between  the  "closed  shop  with  CLOSED  UNION"  (as  repre- 
sented, for  example,  in  the  New  York  building  trades  unions), 
and  the  "closed  shop  with  OPEN  UNION"  (the  prevailing  type). 
Nearly  all  closed  shop  agreements  carry  a  valuable  consideration 
to  the  employer  in  that  the  national  union  involved  undertakes 
responsibility  for  its  local  members,  and  in  case  of  an  unauthorized 
strike  will  supply  the  employer  with  other  union  men  to  take  the 
strikers'  places.  But  the  closed  shop  is  by  no  means  as  universal 
as  the  present  outcry  against  it  would  indicate.  In  several  of  the 
largest  and  most  strongly  organized  national  industries  it  plays  little 
if  any  part.  However,  in  many  industries,  particularly  where  there 
is  no  employers'  association  or  where  the  existing  association  cannot 
exercise  strict  control  over  all  its  members  or  the  whole  industry,  the 
maintenance  of  union  wages  and  conditions  as  well  as  the  life  of 
the  union  itself  depend  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  closed  shop. 
Some  trade  unionists  use  the  term  "union  closed  shop"  in  prefer- 
ence to  "closed  shop,"  it  being  contended  that  what  many  employ- 
ers call  the  open  shop  is  in  reality  a  closed  shop  also — closed  to 
unionists.  This  latter  they  designate  "employers'  closed  shop." 
(See  OPEN  SHOP;  AMERICAN  PLAN;  UNION  SHOP;  CONTRACT  SHOP; 
PREFERENTIAL  SHOP;  IMMIGRATION.) 

Closed  Town.    See  COMPANY  TOWN. 

Closed  Union.  That  form  of  craft  organization  which  dis- 
courages applicants  for  membership  by  excessive  INITIATION  FEES 
and  other  devices — the  purpose  being  to  maintain  a  monopoly  of 
the  work,  in  the  particular  craft  and  locality  concerned,  for  its 
existing  membership.  Along  with  this  policy  of  excluding  new  mem- 
bers, it  necessarily  seeks  to  prevent  the  employment  of  non-union 
workers  in  the  same  craft  and  locality.  This  selfishly  monopolistic 
type  of  trade  union  is  most  commonly  found  in  the  building  trades, 
where  it  usually  operates  under  EXCLUSIVE  AGREEMENTS  with  the 
employing  contractors.  (See  JOB  MONOPOLY;. OPEN  UNION.) 

Co-Employee's  Fault.     See  EMPLOYER'S  LIABILITY. 

Coal  Mines  (Minimum  Wage)  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary 
enactment,  passed  as  a  result  of  the  miners'  strike  in  1912.  It 
provided  for  the  setting  up  in  each  mining  area  of  a  WAGES  BOARD 
consisting  of  employers  and  workers,  with  a  chairman  appointed  by 
the  government.  Each  board  was  required  to  fix  a  MINIMUM  WAGE 
for  mine  workers  within  the  particular  area  involved.  No  penal 

[74] 


provisions  were  made  for  infringement  of  the  established  minimum, 
but  such  infringement  could  be  made  the  basis  for  civil  action. 

Coal  Screening  Laws.     See  SCREENING  SYSTEM. 

Code  du  Travail  et  de  la  Prevoyance  Travail.  The  national 
governmental  labor  code  of  France,  regulating  working  hours  and 
conditions,  the  TRUCK  SYSTEM,  dangerous  trades,  etc. 

Coercion.    See  INTIMIDATION;  PICKETING. 

Coffin  Society.  In  the  radical  labor  movement  this  term 
is  often  applied  to  the  conservative  type  of  trade  union,  in  derision 
of  the  latter's  tendency  to  place  special  emphasis  on  sickness  and 
funeral  BENEFITS. 

Collective  Agreement.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 
Collective  Bargain.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Collective  Bargaining.  The  method  or  process  of  determin- 
ing the  specific  conditions  of  the  labor  contract — particularly  wages, 
hours,  and  working  conditions — by  direct  negotiation  between  the 
representatives  of  one  or  more  trade  unions,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
an  employer  or  association  of  employers  on  the  other.  In  the  simplest 
form  of  collective  bargaining,  the  union  selects  its  representatives 
according  to  its  own  rules,  and  these  deal  directly  with  the  individual 
employer.  If,  however,  organizations  of  employers  stand  over 
against  organizations  of  employees,  somewhat  more  systematic 
machinery  becomes  desirable  and  is  usually  developed.  But  in 
either  case,  each  side  sends  its  best  men  to  represent  it.  The  agree- 
ment is  a  bargain  reached  in  the  same  way  as  any  bargain  between 
buyer  and  seller;  the  process  is  one  of  "higgling."  The  representa- 
tives of  the  two  sides  do  not  constitute  one  board,  acting  by  a  majority 
vote,  but  each  side  acts  as  a  unit,  and  negotiations  continue  until 
all  are  prepared  to  accept  the  compromise  which  is  reached.  In  the 
broadest  sense,  it  may  be  said  that  the  chief  function  of  collective 
bargaining  is  to  establish  and  maintain  "the  principle  of  uniformity 
in  regard  to  all  the  conditions  of  work  and  pay  where  competition 
direct  or  indirect  can  take  place  between  individual  workers,  and  the 
principle  of  standardization,  or  restrictive  regulation,  by  the  group, 
of  all  changes  in  conditions  of  work  and  pay  during  the  term  of  the 
wage  contract."  Properly  conducted,  with  due  regard  for  the  rights 
and  interests  of  each  side,  it  constitutes  an  effort  to  substitute  the 
democratic  principle  of  negotiation  and  compromise  for  that  of 

[75] 


individual  autocratic  control.  "The  chief  advantage  which  comes 
from  the  practice  of  periodically  determining  the  conditions  of  labor 
by  collective  bargaining  directly  between  employers  and  employees 
is,  that  thereby  each  side  obtains  a  better  understanding  of  the  actual 
state  of  the  industry,  of  the  conditions  which  confront  the  other 
side,  and  of  the  motives  which  influence  it.  Most  strikes  and  lockouts 
would  not  occur  if  each  party  understood  exactly  the  position  of  the 
other.  Where  representatives  of  employers  and  employees  can  meet 
personally  together  and  discuss  all  the  considerations  on  which  the 
wage  scale  and  the  conditions  of  labor  should  be  based,  a  satisfac- 
tory agreement  can,  in  the  great  majority  of  instances,  be  reached. 
The  system  of  collective  bargaining  is  also  highly  advantageous  in 
removing  the  occasions  of  minor  misunderstandings  and  in  facili- 
tating the  correction  of  them.  A  large  proportion  of  labor  disputes 
originate  in  very  unimportant  matters.  In  the  absence  of  the 
machinery  and  the  habitude  of  peaceful  discussion,  misunderstanding 
grows  into  bitterness,  and  too  often  a  prolonged  cessation  of  em- 
ployment results.  Where  the  general  conditions  of  labor  are  carefully 
prescribed  in  written  agreements  as  the  result  of  collective  bargain- 
ing, there  is  much  less  chance  for  differences  of  interpretation,  for 
misunderstandings,  and  friction,  while  when  differences  do  arise  a 
spirit  is  likely  to  exist  which  makes  amicable  adjustment  of  them 
possible.  Finally,  it  should  be  observed  that  the  success  of  systems 
of  collective  bargaining  is  usually  cumulative.  The  practice  of 
meeting  together  in  friendly  conference  develops  into  a  habit.  There 
is  a  constantly  increasing  mutual  understanding  and  mutual  respect 
between  employers  and  employees."  While  collective  bargaining 
in  nearly  all  important  national  industries  is  now  conducted  between 
the  representatives  of  trade  unions  and  of  employers'  associations, 
it  is  a  common  complaint  among  employers  that  in  cases  where  but  a 
single  establishment  is  involved  the  process  is  "collective"  only  on 
the  side  of  the  workers — the  employer's  side,  is  that  of  a  single  in- 
dividual. But  in  this  connection  economists  have  repeatedly  pointed 
out  that  in  actual  effect  the  large  employer  is  a  combination  in  him- 
self over  against  the  combination  of  workers;  and  the  fundamental 
purpose  of  collective  bargaining,  as  of  all  other  collective  action 
on  the  part  of  labor,  is  simply  to  put  the  individual  worker  on  some- 
thing like  the  same  plane  of  economic  strength  occupied  by  the 
employer,  in  settling  the  terms  and  conditions  of  labor.  ' '  Wherever  the 
economic  conditions  of  the  parties  concerned  are  unequal,"  according 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  "legal  FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT  merely  enables 
the  superior  in  strategic  strength  to  dictate  the  terms.  Collective  bar- 

[76] 


gaining  does  hot  get  rid  of  this  virtual  compulsion:  it  merely  shifts 
its  incidence.  Where  there  is  no  combination  of  any  kind,  the 
strategic  weakness  of  the  individual  wage-earner,  unable  to  put  a 
reserve  price  on  his  labor,  forces  him  to  accept  the  lowest  possible 
terms.  When  the  workmen  combine  the  balance  is  redressed,  and 
may  even  incline,  as  against  the  isolated  employer,  in  favor  of  the 
wage-earner.  If  the  employers  meet  combination  by  combination, 
the  compulsion  exercised  upon  individual  capitalists  or  individual 
wage-earners  may  become  so  irresistible  as  to  cease  to  be  noticed. 
In  the  most  perfected  form  of  Collective  Bargaining,  compulsory 
membership  becomes  as  much  a  matter  of  course  as  compulsory 
citizenship."  Although  the  method  of  collective  bargaining  is  not 
practiced  or  even  favored  by  considerable  numbers  of  organized 
workers,  it  is  regarded  by  the  majority  as  the  chief  reason  for  being 
of  trade  unionism.  It  has  evolved  into  an  elaborate  scheme  of  diplo- 
macy which  is  designed  not  only  to  protect  the  worker's  standard 
of  life,  but  also  to  obviate  as  far  as  possible  the  resort  to  industrial 
war.  But,  like  political  diplomacy,  it  rests  in  the  last  analysis 
upon  the  coercive  power  of  antagonistic  classes  organized  for  aggres- 
sion and  defence.  "The  bargaining  power  of  either  side  is  the  power 
to  use  the  strike  against  the  lockout,  the  boycott  against  the  black- 
list, the  picket  against  the  strikebreaker,  the  closed  union  shop 
against  the  closed  non-union  shop,  and  so  on.  These  are  essential 
weapons,  and  no  plausible  verbiage  or  double  meaning  of  words  should 
blind  us  to  the  fact  that  these  weapons  are  coercive,  and  are  intended 
to  be  coercive,  and,  in  the  last  analysis,  will  be  used  secretly 
or  openly,  as  coercive,  by  either  side."  Collective  bargaining  in  the 
trade  union  sense  should  be  carefully  differentiated  from  any  plan 
of  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION  or  other  method  of  negotiating  with 
a  COMPANY  UNION  or  unorganized  workers.  (See  REPRESENTA- 
TIVE BARGAINING;  INDIVIDUAL  BARGAINING;  AGREEMENT  SYSTEM; 
JOINT  CONFERENCE  SYSTEM;  COMMON  RULE;  COMPULSORY  TRADE 
UNIONISM.) 

Collective  Bonus  System.  The  main  types  of  individual 
bonus  payment  are  described  in  the  entry  BONUS  SYSTEM.  Under 
the  collective  bonus  plan,  the  bonus  is  paid  on  the  total  output  of 
a  shop  or  department — or  even  of  the  entire  works.  According  to 
G.  D.  H.  Cole,  the  usual  method  of  establishing  a  collective  bonus 
system  is  somewhat  as  follows:  "First,  an  attempt  is  made  to  ascer- 
tain the  normal  output  of  the  shop  or  works  for  a  given  period  of 
time,  say  a  week;  this  normal  output  is  ascertained  by  taking  the 

[77] 


figures  for  a  certain  period  during  which  the  shop  has  been  engaged 
on  the  work  in  question,  either  under  TIME-WORK  or  under  PIECE- 
WORK conditions.  The  ascertained  average,  or  some  total  based 
upon  it,  is  then  taken  as  the  standard  output  for  the  works.  The 
bonus  may  then  be  paid,  either  on  all  output  in  excess  of  the  standard, 
or  on  all  output  in  excess  of  a  given  percentage  of  the  standard 
output,  the  addition  being  either  on  a  flat  rate  for  all  such  excess, 
or  on  a  graduated  scale  rising  as  the  total  output  increases.  Such  a 
collective  bonus  based  on  shop  or  works  output  is  usually  adopted 
in  substitution  for  all  other  systems  of  PAYMENT  BY  RESULTS.  This, 
however,  is  not  necessarily  or  universally  the  case,  since  the  bonus 
may  be  paid  on  top  of  other  piece-work  or  bonus  earnings  calculated 
on  an  individual  basis.  Where,  apart,  from  the  collective  bonus, 
the  workers  within  the  group  are  time-workers,  the  bonus  is  extended 
to  certain  classes  of  men  who  are  not  themselves  directly  producing 
the  output  on  which  the  bonus  is  paid,  e.g.,  supervisors,  inspectors, 
setters-up,  maintenance  men,  etc.,  etc.  Where  some  of  the  workers 
under  the  collective  scheme  are  also  individual  piece  or  bonus  workers, 
the  collective  scheme  is  often  extended  to  cover  not  only  these 
workers,  but  also  the  time-workers  employed  in  the  shop,  the  bonus 
being  paid  to  all  alike,  usually  in  proportion  to  their  time-rates." 

Collective  Contract.  This  name  has  been  given  to  the 
method  (as  yet  largely  in  a  theoretical  stage)  by  which  the  workers 
in  a  factory  or  an  industry  contract  to  sell  their  labor  as  a  unit  to 
the  employer.  The  latter  pays  a  single  sum  to  the  representative 
of  the  group,  among  which  it  is  distributed  according  to  some  plan 
agreed  upon  by  the  members  composing  the  group.  The  collective 
contract  idea  is  one  of  the  tenets  of  GUILD  SOCIALISM. 

Collective  Piece  Work.  This  term  is  commonly  applied  to 
any  arrangement  under  which  PIECE  WORK  wages  are  paid  for  the 
collective  output  of  a  group  of  workers,  instead  of  for  the  output 
of  a  single  worker.  If  the  amount  paid  is  divided  equally  among 
all  the  members  of  the  group,  the  arrangement  is  more  properly 
known  as  COOPERATIVE  PIECE  WORK.  If  the  amount  is  paid  to  an 
intermediary  who  himself  employs  the  individual  workers  and  takes 
a  profit  on  their  work,  the  arrangement  is  a  form  of  the  CONTRACT 
SYSTEM.  In  the  latter  case,  the  intermediary  (the  contractor)  may 
pay  his  workers  time  wages;  but  nevertheless,  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  owner  of  the  industry,  the  arrangement  is  one  of  collective 
piece  work.  According  to  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  a  clear  distinction  must  be 
made  between  the  two  forms  of  collective  piece  work  known  as 

[78] 


"job  piece  work"  and  "shop  piece  work."  "In  the  former,  the 
collective  system  is  usually  adopted  because  it  is  not  possible  to 
divide  the  product  of  a  group  of  men  employed  on  a  single  job — 
i.e.,  the  narrowest  practicable  basis  for  PAYMENT  BY  RESULTS  is 
adopted.  In  the  latter,  the  reason  for  a  collective  system  usually 
lies  not  in  the  impossibility  of  individual  payment  by  results,  but 
in  the  desire  to  provide  a  collective  stimulus  to  output  for  the  whole 
shop,  in  preference  to  a  series  of  distinct  stimuli  to  individual  workers 
in  the  shop."  Collective  piece  work  is  sometimes  called  "group 
piece  work"  and  "gang  piece  work." 

Collectivism,  In  common  usage,  no  very  definite  or  specific 
meaning  seems  to  attach  to  this  term.  Sometimes  it  is  used  to  ex- 
press the  purely  economic  basis  of  SOCIALISM,  sometimes  in  a  sense 
synonymous  with  socialism  as  a  whole.  But  in  general  it  may  be 
taken  as  denoting  the  opposite  of  INDIVIDUALISM — in  other  words, 
the  theory  or  belief  that  the  affairs  of  a  community,  particularly 
its  industrial  affairs,  should  be  managed  and  controlled  in  a  collective 
way,  by  the  community  as  a  whole,  rather  than  by  separate  and  com- 
petitive individual  effort.  In  regard  to  capital,  for  example,  it  would 
transform  all  private  competing  capitals  into  a  united  collective 
capital,  to  be  used  for  the  profit  of  the  entire  community.  The 
collectivist,  whether  in  trade  unionism  or  in  politics,  "insists  on  the 
need  for  a  conscious  and  deliberate  organization  of  society,  based, 
not  on  vested  interests  or  the  chances  of  the  fight,  but  on  the  scien- 
tifically ascertained  needs  of  each  section  of  citizens  .  .  .  such  a 
conscious  adjustment  of  the  resources  of  the  community  to  its  needs 
as  will  result  in  its  highest  possible  efficiency."  (See  SOCIALIZATION.) 

Collectors.  In  certain  British  trades,  as  for  example,  cotton- 
weaving,  these  are  officials  employed  by  trade  unions  to  go  from 
house  to  house  and  collect  the  members'  contributions  or  dues.  They 
are  remunerated  by  a  percentage  on  their  collections.  Though  not 
strictly  salaried  officials,  they  serve  as  trade  union  recruiting  agents, 
as  well  as  intermediaries  between  members  and  the  central  office, 
for  complaints,  appeals,  and  the  circulation  of  information.  (See 
SHOP  STEWARD.) 

Color  Line  in  Trade  Unionism.  That  a  large  percentage  of 
the  negro  workers  in  American  industry  are  still  unorganized  is  due 
in  part  at  least  to  the  drawing  of  the  "color  line"  by  certain  national 
or  international  unions.  The  most  prominent  exainple  of  such  dis- 
crimination is  found  in  the  case  of  the  great  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS, 

[79] 


which  consistently  exclude  negro  workers.  The  AMERICAN  FEDERA- 
TION OF  LABOR  formerly  refused  to  charter  any  national  union  which 
excluded  colored  workers,  but  it  has  since  been  obliged  to  recede 
from  this  position — although  never  formally  renouncing  it.  Several 
unions,  in  their  constitutions,  specially  forbid  any  distinction  of 
race.  The  Hotel  Employees  receive  colored  persons,  but  organize 
them  in  separate  locals.  The  Tobacco  Workers,  although  their 
membership  is  largely  in  the  South,  declare  in  their  constitution 
that  they  "will  draw  no  line  of  distinction  between  creed,  color  or 
nationality,"  but  will  "work  hand  in  hand  for  the  common  good  of 
all."  The  color  question  has,  however,  caused  some  friction  in  the 
labor  organizations  of  the  southern  states.  In  the  earlier  days  of 
the  labor  movement  there,  the  democratic  feeling  among  the  few 
trade  unionists  was  strong  enough  to  bring  whites  and  negroes  even 
into  the  same  local  meeting  rooms.  It  is  strong  enough  still  in  some 
trades  and  in  some  places.  As  the  unions  have  grown,  however, 
separate  LOCALS  have  been  demanded.  Finally,  in  some  places  the 
CITY  CENTRAL  bodies  have  rejected  colored  delegates.  While  there 
are  still  many  places  in  the  South  where  whites  and  negroes  meet 
on  an  absolute  equality  in  the  labor  organizations,  there  are  others 
where  not  only  separate  local  unions  but  separate  city  federations 
have  become  necessary.  (See  SOUTH  AFRICAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Colorado  Industrial  Commission  Law.  An  act  passed  by 
the  Colorado  state  legislature  in  1915,  and  popularly  known  as  the 
"can't  strike  law."  It  is  modelled  largely  after  the  CANADIAN 
INDUSTRIAL  DISPUTES  INVESTIGATION  ACT;  but  whereas  this  latter 
applies  only  to  public  utilities,  the  Colorado  law  applies  to  all  indus- 
tries within  the  state.  It  sets  up  a  commission  for  the  investigation 
of  industrial  disputes,  and  provides  that  "Employers  and  employees 
shall  give  at  least  thirty  days'  notice  of  intended  change  affecting 
conditions  of  employment  with  respect  to  wages  or  hours;  and,  in 
every  case  where  a  dispute  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  investi- 
gation, hearing,  or  arbitration  by  the  commission,  or  the  board, 
until  the  dispute  has  been  finally  dealt  with  by  such  commission,  or 
board,  neither  of  the  parties  nor  the  employees  affected  shall  alter 
the  conditions  of  employment  with  respect  to  wages  or  hours,  or 
on  account  of  the  dispute,  do,  or  be  concerned  in  doing,  directly  or 
indirectly,  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  lockout  or  strike,  or  a  suspen- 
sion or  dicontinuance  of  work  or  employment;  but  the  relationship 
of  employer  and  employee  shall  continue  uninterrupted  by  the  dis- 
pute, or  anything  arising  out  of  the  dispute."  Punishment  by  fine 

[80] 


is  provided  for  any  direct  infringement  of  the  above  stipulations; 
and  punishment  by  fine  or  imprisonment  or  both  is  provided  for  any 
incitement,  encouragement,  or  aid  to  infringement.  The  more 
drastic  provisions  of  the  act  have  so  far  been  largely  a  dead  letter^ 
but  all  efforts  of  organized  labor  to  have  what  are  called  the  "in- 
voluntary servitude"  sections  repealed  remain  as  yet  unsuccessful. 

Colorado  Plan.    See  ROCKEFELLER  PLAN. 

Combination  Acts.  British  Parliamentary  measures  of  1799 
and  1800,  which  prohibited  under  heavy  penalties  all  combinations 
of  wage-earners.  Before  1799  British  legislative  acts  concerning 
industrial  relations  were  (to  quote  Dr.  Groat)  "regarded  as  a  part 
of  the  general  policy  of  individual  regulation  applicable  alike,  in 
theory,  to  both  employers  and  their  journeymen.  The  several 
statutes  dealt  with  particular  groups  of  workmen  wherever  and  when- 
ever the  occasion  required.  In  the  closing  period  of  the  century  all 
these  several  acts  were  gathered  into  one  general  statute  in  which 
all  combinations  whatsoever  were  declared  illegal.  This  law  was  re- 
enacted  in  an  amended  form  in  the  following  year,  and  from  1800  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  it  stood  not  simply  as  a  codification  of  previous 
acts  but  as  a  radical  departure  from  former  lines  of  legislation." 
The  Combination  Acts  were  used  as  instruments  for  savage  perse- 
cution of  the  English  working  class,  and  mark  the  lowest  pitch  of 
degradation  to  which  that  class  ever  fell.  They  were  repealed  in 
1824,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Francis  Place  and  Joseph  Hume 
— the  former  a  master  tailor  and  the  latter  a  member  of  Parliament.^ 

Combination  Card.     Instead  of  issuing  separate  DUE  CARDS, 

TRANSFER  CARDS,  TRAVELLING  CARDS,  LOAN  CARDS,  etc.,  SOme  Amer- 
ican trade  unions  issue  a  single  "combination  card"  which  serves 
the  purpose  of  two  or  more  of  the  separate  cards  above  mentioned. 

Comisia  Generala  a  Sindicatelur  diu  Rumania  (General 
Trade  Union  Commission  of  Roumania).  A  central  executive  body 
which  represents  the  Roumanian  labor  movement  on  the  industrial 
side,  as  the  Social  Democratic  Labor  Party  represents  it  on  the 
political  side.  The  two  organizations  work  in  close  cooperation. 
The  semi-feudal  land  system  in  Roumania,  combined  with  reactionary 
governmental  policies,  has  given  the  labor  movement  a  decidedly 
revolutionary  character.  The  socialist  party  "opposed  Roumanian 
intervention  in  the  war  (successfully,  till  August,  1916),  and  took 
part  in  the  ZIMMERWALD  MOVEMENT.  The  war  drove  the  organiza- 
tion underground  through  the  combined  repression  of  the  German. 

[81] 


military  authorities  over  three-quarters  of  the  country  and  the 
Roumanian  government  in  the  remaining  area.  In  December,  1918, 
a  general  strike  led  to  the  wholesale  arrest  of  the  executive  of  the 
socialist  party  and  the  Trade  Union  Commission,  and  the  govern- 
ment has  since  maintained  its  power  by  a  reign  of  terror,  which 
increased  under  the  military  regime  of  General  Averescu." 

Comit6  Confed6rale  (Confederal  Committee).  See  CONFED- 
ERATION GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL. 

Commission  Syndicate  Beige  (Belgian  Trade  Union  Commis- 
sion). The  central  national  executive  body  of  the  Belgian  socialist 
trade  unions.  It  is  actually  a  section  of  the  PARTI  OUVRIER  BELGE 
or  Belgian  Labor  Party,  and  includes  among  its  members  not  only 
delegates  of  the  affiliated  trade  unions  but  representatives  of  the 
pglitical  Labor  Party  and  also  of  certain  independent  unions  (syn- 
dicats  independants} ;  the  full  name  of  the  organization  being  Com- 
mission Syndicate  du  Parti  Ouwier  et  des  Syndicats  Independants. 
The  Commission  holds  an  annual  Congress  for  the  consideration  of 
important  matters.  Thirty-one  national  organizations,  with  a  total 
combined  membership  of  over  720,000,  were  represented  at  the  nine- 
teenth Congress,  held  October,  1920.  (See  BELGIAN  TRADE  UNIONS.) 

Commission  Syndicate  de  Luxemburg  (Luxemburg  Trade 
Union  Commission).  The  central  national  executive  board  for  the 
leading  labor  organizations  of  the  grand  duchy  of  Luxemburg,  repre- 
senting 27,000  members  in  1920.  Trade  unionism  in  Luxemburg 
is  of  very  recent  growth,  dating  only  from  1903.  In  September,  1920, 
according  to  the  "Labor  International  Handbook,"  "a  law  was 
passed  giving  the  workshop  councils  the  right  to  participate  in  the 
management  of  industry.  French  and  Belgian  capital,  which  has 
a  controlling  voice  in  the  industry  of  the  country,  demanded  the 
abolition  of  the  councils.  In  January,  1921,  following  on  a  lockout 
of  several  hundred  foundry  workers,  the  workers  occupied  the  mines, 
workshops,  and  foundries.  The  French  garrison,  however,  which 
had  been  retained  in  the  country  despite  trade  union  protests,  sup- 
pressed the  Works  Councils." 

Commissioners  of  Conciliation.     See  CONCILIATION  DIVISION. 

Commodity  Theory  of  Labor.  It  has  long  been  a  generali- 
zation among  &  large  class  of  employers  and  economists  that  "labor" 
is  a  commodity,  to  be  bought  and  sold  according  to  the  same  prin- 
ciples that  govern  the  exchange  of  other  commodities.  Organized 

[82] 


labor  has  always  vigorously  resisted  this  view,  holding  that  "labor" 
cannot  be  separated  from  the  body  and  spirit  of  the  laborer,  and  that 
these  factors  must  be  considered  and  provided  for  in  all  industrial 
relations.  "The  cry  for  the  abolition  of  the  WAGE  SYSTEM"  now 
voiced  by  organized  labor  in  every  industrial  country  is,  according 
to  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  "a  cry  for  the  destruction  of  the  whole  idea  that 
labor  is  a  commodity,  to  be  bought  and  sold  like  any  other  commodity, 
that  labor  has  its  market  price,  settled  by  SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND, 
by  the  higgling  of  the  market,  or  what  not,  and  not  by  any  idea  of 
human  need  or  social  justice,  or  even  of  service  rendered.  It  is  not 
denied  that,  nowadays,  labor  is  treated  as  a  commodity,  and  bought 
and  sold  with  regard  only  to  the  advantage  of  the  purchaser  and 
the  economic  need  of  the  seller;  but  it  is  maintained  that  this  state 
of  things  is  wasteful,  degrading  and  preventable.  CAPITALISM  buys 
in  the  cheapest  and  sells  in  the  dearest  market;  and  it  buys  its  labor 
on  exactly  the  same  terms  as  its  non-human  commodities.  But 
essentially  Labor  differs  in  nature  from  commodities,  not  merely 
because,  if  it  is  not  used,  it  is  being  wasted — that  applies  equally 
to  a  machine — not  merely  because  it  may  be  made  more  or  less 
efficient  as  more  or  less  is  spent  on  it — that  too  would  apply  to  a 
factory  as  a  whole,  and  not  merely  to  the  labor  in  it — but  because 
it  is  human,  and  the  value  of  humanity  is  not  a  market  value,  though 
humanity  may  have,  in  a  bad  social  system,  a  market  price.  The 
wage  system  must  be  abolished  in  the  sense  that  it  must  be  made 
impossible  merely  to  buy  labor  as  cheaply  as  possible,  irrespective 
of  its  need  or  service;  instead,  Labor  must  share  fairly  in  what  the 
community  produces,  on  a  basis  partly  of  need  and  partly  of  service, 
but  never  of  market  price."  The  deep-rooted  conception  of  labor 
as  a  commodity  or  article  of  commerce,  and  of  the  laborer  as  a  sort 
of  automatic  machine,  is  unconsciously  revealed  in  the  common  des- 
ignation of  workers  as  "hands."  (See  CLAYTON  ACT;  LIMITATION 
OF  OUTPUT;  LABOR  MARKET;  STRIKE.) 

Commodity  Wages.     See  WAGES. 

Common  Employment  Doctrine.  The  common-law  principle 
more  often  known  as  the  "fellow  servant  rule,"  in  connection  with 
EMPLOYER'S  LIABILITY,  is  sometimes  so  called.  By  this  legal  refine- 
ment, which  dates  only  from  1837,  and  which  successive  judicial 
decisions  have  engrafted  upon  the  common  law,  a  workman  who 
suffered  injury  through  the  negligence  of  some  other  person  in  the 
same  employment  was  precluded  from  recovering  that  compensation 
from  the  common  employer  which  a  stranger,  to  whom  the  same 

[83] 


accident  had  happened,  could   claim  and  enforce.     (See  FELLOW 
SERVANT  LAWS.) 

Common  Labor.  Unskilled  workers  employed  for  such  rough 
manual  labor  as  that  largely  required  in  railway  construction,  min- 
ing, irrigation  work,  ship  loading,  lumbering,  the  steel  industry, 
farming,  etc.  (See  MIGRATORY  LABOR;  CASUAL  LABOR;  UNSKILLED 
LABOR;  DAY  LABORER;  SAND-HOG;  MUCKER;  HUNKY;  WOP;  NAVVY; 
STRAPPERS.) 

Common  Rule.  Mr:  and  Mrs.  Webb  use  this  term  in  designation 
of  one  of  the  two  main  devices  or  expedients  by  which  trade  unionism 
aims  to  maintain  and  improve  the  conditions  of  employment.  "The 
STANDARD  RATE,  the  NORMAL  DAY,  and  SANITATION  AND  SAFETY 
are  but  different  forms  of  one  principle — the  settlement,  whether 
by  MUTUAL  INSURANCE,  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  or  LEGAL  EN- 
ACTMENT, of  minimum  conditions  of  employment  by  Common  Rules 
applicable  to  whole  bodies  of  workers.  All  these  Regulations  are 
based  on  the  assumption  that  when,  in  the  absence  of  any  Common 
Rule,  the  conditions  of  employment  are  left  to  'free  competition/ 
this  always  means,  in  practice,  that  they  are  arrived  at  by  INDIVIDUAL 
BARGAINING  between  contracting  parties  of  very  unequal  economic 
strength.  Such  a  settlement,  it  is  asserted,  invariably  tends,  for  the 
mass  of  the  workers,  toward  the  worst  possible  conditions  of  labor — 
ultimately,  indeed,  to  the  barest  subsistence  level — whilst  even  the 
exceptional  few  do  not  permanently  gain  as  much  as  they  otherwise 
could.  We  find  accordingly  that  the  Device  of  the  Common  Rule 
is  a  universal  feature  of  Trade  Unionism,  and  that  the  assumption 
on  which  it  is  based  is  held  from  one  end  of  the  Trade  Union  world 
to  the  other."  The  device  of  the  common  rule  by  no  means  aims  at 
establishing  a  general  common  standard  for  all  industries.  Thus 
(to  quote  from  George  O'Brien's  "Labor  Organization")  "there  is 
no  attempt  made  to  fix  the  same  MINIMUM  WAGE  for  all  workmen, 
skilled  or  unskilled,  in  every  industry  in  the  country,  nor  is  there  any 
suggestion  that  workmen  in  all  employments  should  work  the  same 
number  of  hours.  Trade  unionists  themselves  would  be  the  first 
to  resent  the  suggestion  that  highly  skilled  and  efficient  craftsmen 
should  be  placed  on  the  same  basis  of  employment  with  unskilled 
laborers.  What  the  common  rule  seeks  to  attain  is  that  within  a 
particular  craft  or  a  particular  industry  common  conditions  of  em- 
ployment shall  prevail.  The  basis  upon  which  the  common  rule  is 
established  rests  upon  one  of  three  fundamental  principles:  the 
principle  that  vested  interests  should  be  respected;  the  principle  that 

[84] 


the  supply  of  labor  should  be  regulated  to  meet  the  demand ;  and  the 
principle  of  a  minimum  wage."  (See  RESTRICTION  OF  NUMBERS; 
SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND,  LAW  OF.) 

Commonwealth  Court  of  Conciliation  and  Arbitration. 
A  tribunal,  established  in  1904,  having  jurisdiction  and  compulsory 
authority  in  any  trade  or  industrial  dispute  that  affects  two  or  more 
states  of  the  Australian  commonwealth.  It  is  presided  over  by  a 
Justice  of  the  High  Court  of  Australia.  It  exercises  extensive  powers 
of  punishment  by  fines  and  by  "de-registration" — the  process  under 
which  a  trade  union  or  employers'  association  is  barred  from  the 
benefits  of  the  court.  According  to  Commons  and  Andrews,  "the 
recent  history  of  the  Commonwealth  Court  of  Arbitration  has  been 
marked  by  more  explicit  definition  of  its  powers  and  the  establish- 
ment of  precedents.  Two  amendments  to  the  Commonwealth  act 
were  made  in  1915  and  1918.  The  earlier  amendment  enabled  a 
justice  of  the  high  court  to  decide  finally  whether  a  dispute  extended 
beyond  the  limits  of  any  one  state,  which  was  the  chief  limitation 
of  the  powers  of  the  court  of  arbitration.  The  court  affirmed  the 
right  of  free  bargaining  in  the  case  of  workers  refusing  to  accept 
hire  at  the  MINIMUM  WAGE,  when  they  believed  their  skill  rated  a 
higher  wage.  In  the  consideration  of  minimum  wage  principles 
during  the  war,  the  court  continued  its  policy  of  basing  the  minimum 
on  a  STANDARD  OF  LIVING.  The  tendency,  however,  was  to  make  the 
wages  of  the  skilled  and  unskilled  workers  meet;  the  basic  wage  was 
increased,  but  the  secondary  wage  was  increased  only  by  the  pre- 
war margin  between  the  two  scales,  not  proportionally.  One  of  the 
most  fruitful  features  of  the  court's  power  is  its  right  to  appoint 
'boards  of  reference,'  by  means  of  which  the  meeting  of  representa- 
tives of  unions  with  employers  is  encouraged.  Of  late  these  'boards 
of  reference'  have  tended  to  develop  along  the  lines  of  the  Whitley 
suggestions  in  Great  Britain." 

Communism.  The  economic  theory  or  doctrine  that  all 
property  should  be  held  in  common,  by  the  community  as  a  whole, 
for  the  equal  benefit  of  all;  and  that  all  socially  necessary  labor 
should  be  shared  by  all  members  of  the  community,  according  to 
individual  abilities  and  capacity.  When  accomplished  by  voluntary 
cooperation,  instead  of  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  State 
or  other  coercive  agency,  this  is  generally  known  as  "anarchist 
communism" — which  is  more  essentially  a  form  of  ANARCHISM  than 
of  communism.  When  the  State  is  the  controlling  factor,  it  is  not 
altogether  easy  to  distinguish  communism  from  SOCIALISM.  Indeed, 
7  [85] 


Karl  Marx,  the  "father  of  scientific  socialism,"  used  the  term  "com- 
munism" in  general  designation  of  his  theories;  and  the  most  uncom- 
promising disciples  of  Marx  today,  the  Russian  Bolshevists,  call 
themselves  "communists" — using  this  term  to  distinguish  them- 
selves from  the  nationalist  or  parliamentarian  "social  democrats." 
In  general  it  may  be  said  that  communism  differs  from  socialism 
chiefly  in  that  it  contemplates  public  or  collective  ownership  of  all 
forms  of  property,  except  perhaps  the  merest  personal  effects;  whereas 
under  socialism  only  the  instruments  of  production  and  exchange 
would  be  held  in  common,  and  a  considerable  measure  of  private 
ownership  would  still  exist.  Far  from  being  a  malignant  doctrine,  as 
many  suppose,  communism  is  in  fact  the  most  altruistic  of  all  social 
theories.  (See  FOURIERISM;  BOLSHEVISM;  SPARTACANS;  COMMUNIST 
INTERNATIONALE  . ) 

Communist  Internationale.  The  third  INTERNATIONALE, 
organized  at  Moscow  in  March,  1919,  is  so  called.  It  was  formed 
to  "unite  all  revolutionary  parties  in  the  world  PROLETARIAT," 
and  to  purge  the  international  socialist  movement  of  all  "oppor- 
tunistic, social-patriotic,  and  centrist  elements."  Thus  it  bitterly 
opposes  and  is  opposed  by  the  moderate  second  Internationale  and 
by  those  members  of  the  so-called  CENTRE  in  the  socialist  movement 
who  have  abandoned  the  second  Internationale  but  still  withhold 
allegiance  to  the  third.  In  the  constitution  adopted  at  its  second 
(1920)  Congress  it  is  stated  that  this  "new  international  associa- 
tion of  workers  is  established  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  common 
action  between  the  workers  of  various  countries  who  are  striving 
toward  a  single  aim:  the  overthrow  of  CAPITALISM,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  DICTATORSHIP  OF  THE  PROLETARIAT  and  of  the  Inter- 
national Soviet  Republic,  the  complete  abolition  of  classes  and  the 
realization  of  SOCIALISM — as  the  first  step  to  Communist  society." 
A  "world  congress"  meeting  "not  less  frequently  than  once  a  year" 
is  the  supreme  governing  body  of  the  Communist  Internationale. 
This  congress  elects  an  executive  committee,  which  serves  as  the 
principal  authority  between  meetings  of  the  congress.  The  Com- 
munist Internationale  is  also  variously  known  as  the  "Moscow," 
"Red,"  and  "Bolshevik"  Internationale.  (See  ZIMMERWALD  MOVE- 
MENT; Moscow  INTERNATIONAL  COMMUNIST  MANIFESTO;  LENIN'S 
TWENTY-ONE  CONDITIONS;  INTERNATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  TRADE 
AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS;  YOUNG  COMMUNIST  INTERNATIONALE.) 

Communist  Labor  Party  of  North  America.  See  SOCIALIST 
PARTY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES;  UNITED  COMMUNIST  PARTY. 

[86] 


Communist  Manifesto.  This  famous  document,  which  has 
long  formed  the  "bible"  of  the  socialist  working-class  movement, 
was  written  by  Karl  Marx  and  Friedrich  Engels  and  published  early 
in  1848.  It  is  mainly  an  exposition  and  discussion  of  the  two  oppos- 
ing classes  in  modern  industrial  society,  the  BOURGEOISIE  and  the 
PROLETARIAT,  dealing  with  the  historical  conditions  under  which 
they  have  developed  and  forecasting  their  probable  future  evolution. 
(See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM.) 

Communist  Party  of  America.  Organized  at  Chicago  in 
1919  by  left-wing  secessionists  from  the  SOCIALIST  PARTY  OF  AMERICA 
— chiefly  Slavic  members  of  the  socialist  movement.  These  latter  out- 
number their  English-speaking  comrades,  and  dominate  the  Party's 
policies,  which  are  revolutionary  in  character.  In  1920  a  section  of 
this  party  seceded  from  the  organization,  and  united  with  the  Com- 
munist Labor  Party  of  North  America  to  form  the  UNITED  COM- 
MUNIST PARTY. 

Communist  Party  of  Great  Britain.  Formed  in  August, 
1920,  as  a  merger  of  various  small  revolutionary  groups  in  the  British 
socialist  movement.  It  is  affiliated  with  the  third  INTERNATIONALE. 

Communist  Saturdays.     See  SUBBOTNIK. 

Companionship.  In  the  English  printing  trade,  a  team  of 
compositors  who  work  together  on  a  PIECE  WORK  basis.  The  "com- 
panionship" usually  appoints  its  own  "clicker."  (See  CLICKING 
SYSTEM.) 

Company  Bull.     See  BULL  SYSTEM. 

Company  Council.  Ordinarily  a  "joint"  works  committee 
— one  that  is  representative  of  both  the  workers  and  the  manage- 
ment of  a  single  establishment.  The  terms  "plant  council,"  "joint 
plant  council,"  "joint  conference  council,"  etc.,  are  sometimes  used 
in  a  similar,  or  practically  similar,  sense. 

Company  Doctor.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  large  industrial 
concerns,  particularly  those  operating  in  isolated  communities,  to 
employ  a  "company  doctor"  for  the  purpose  of  attending  sick  or 
injured  employees,  his  fees  being  often  deducted  from  the  worker's 
wages.  Some  states  have  laws  on  this  subject;  in  Tennessee,  for 
example,  employers  are  prohibited  from  dictating  to  or  in  any  man- 
ner interfering  with  an  employee  or  laborer  in  his  right  to  select  his 
own  physician,  or  from  retaining  or  withholding  any  portion  of  wages 
due  for  paying  a  company  doctor. 

[87] 


Company  Guards.     See  ARMED  GUARDS. 

Company  Housing.  It  is  a  not  uncommon  practice  on  the 
part  of  large  industrial  concerns,  particularly  those  operating  in 
isolated  or  undeveloped  regions,  to  provide  houses  for  their  employees. 
Sometimes  the  employees  are  required  to  occupy  such  houses,  some- 
times the  matter  is  optional ;  but  in  any  case  the  rent  is  usually  de- 
ducted from  wages.  Frequently  these  houses  are  better  than  those 
which  the  workers  would  provide,  and  the  rent  is  often  lower  than 
that  ordinarily  commanded  by  houses  of  similar  quality;  but  these 
advantages  are  not  seldom  offset  by  contractual  ties  of  dependence 
on  the  worker's  part.  Company  housing  is  as  old  as  the  industrial 
history  of  the  United  States.  When  industry  passed  from  the 
home  to  the  factory,  company  housing  became  necessary,  since  the 
colonial  manufacturer  was  a  pioneer  who  opened  up  new  sites  for 
factories  at  those  points  generally  where  water  power  was  available, 
and  was  compelled  to  provide  housing  accommodations  for  the 
labor  which  he  brought  with  him.  Company  housing  (also  known 
as  "employers'  housing")  has  been  brought  under  public  regulation 
in  some  states.  (See  COMPANY  TOWN  ;  TRUCK  SYSTEM  ;  LABOR  CAMP  ; 
STRIKEBREAKING.) 

Company  Man.  (i)  A  common  designation  among  laborers 
for  a  foreman,  superintendent,  or  other  employer's  representative. 
(2)  An  offensive  term  sometimes  applied  to  a  worker  who  is  obviously 
or  seemingly  more  concerned  for  his  employer's  interests  than  for 
those  of  his  fellow-workers — even  to  the  extent  of  being  an  employer's 
spy.  In  England  the  term  "master's  man,"  or,  in  the  vernacular 
form,  "guv'nor's  man,"  carries  the  same  connotation. 

Company  Miners.  In  coal-mining  these  are  employees  who 
operate  drilling  and  other  mine  machinery,  remove  obstructions, 
prospect  for  new  "chambers,"  etc.  They  seldom  "mine"  any  coal, 
and  are  paid  a  time  rate  which  is  a  little  less  than  that  paid  CONSID- 
ERATION MINERS. 

Company  Store.  In  a  COMPANY  TOWN,  or  in  such  compara- 
tively remote  places  as  mining  and  lumber  camps,  it  often  happens 
that  the  only  store  in  which  workers  may  obtain  food  and  other 
necessities  is  owned  by  the  company  or  corporation  employing  the 
workers.  "The  existence  of  company  stores  is  often  an  indication 
that  the  working  people  employed  have  made  little  progress  from  the 
condition  of  SERFDOM.  They  chiefly  exist  in  sections  where  the 
laborers  are  ignorant  and  largely  of  foreign  extraction,  unacquainted 

[88] 


with  American  conditions  and  methods  of  labor  organization.  Plainly, 
if  the  employer  runs  his  store  to  sell  goods  at  cost  plus  the  mere 
expense  of  handling,  his  store  becomes  a  benefit  to  the  employee; 
but  this  is  seldom  the  case.  The  temptation  is  entirely  too  strong, 
especially  in  times  of  depression,  to  recoup  losses  in  the  productive 
branch  of  the  business  from  profits  on  the  goods  sold  or  the  tenements 
rented  to  employees.  Company  stores  and  tenements  are  objected 
to  even  where  the  prices  are  not  excessive,  on  the  ground  that  they 
limit  the  choice  of  the  employee,  and,  more  than  anything  else,  that 
their  existence  contains  the  unwritten  threat  of  discharge  for  the 
employee  who  fails  to  trade  at  the  company  store  or  occupy  the 
company  tenement.  This  implied  threat  is  a  powerful  obstacle  to 
the  organization  of  labor  and  the  inauguration  of  a  strike."  Several 
states  have  enacted  laws  directed  against  the  company  store.  Where 
permitted  at  all,  it  is  usually  restrained  from  charging  unreasonable 
prices,  or  charging  higher  prices  to  employees  than  to  non-employees, 
or  requiring  employees  to  purchase  their  supplies  from  the  company 
store.  But  for  the  reasons  noted  in  the  entry,  TRUCK  SYSTEM,  the 
regulative  laws  at  least  have  had  comparatively  small  effect  in  remedy- 
ing the  evils  against  which  they  are  directed.  (See  PLUCK  ME 
STORES.) 

Company  Town.  An  industrial  community  in  which  an 
individual  employer  or  employing  corporation  is  the  sole  or  main 
proprietor  of  land  and  improvements,  including  homes,  stores, 
churches,  public  halls,  etc.  From  a  governmental  point  of  view, 
company  towns  are  "closed,"  being  private  property.  Under  the 
law  of  trespass  the  employer  may  eject  anyone  from  the  town,  or 
refuse  entry  to  anyone,  without  showing  cause.  Through  his  control 
of  community  streets,  lights,  public  utilities,  houses,  recreation 
centres,  and  the  industry  which  supports  the  economic  life  of  the 
community,  the  employer  is  able  to  exercise  absolute  authority. 
The  rules  which  he  promulgates  are  readily  enforceable,  backed  as 
they  are  by  the  power  to  discharge  any  offender  from  employment. 
Company  towns  (often  called  "one-man  towns")  are  rarely  found 
within  the  limits  of  self-governing  communities;  they  are  generally 
either  industrial  satellites  of  larger  cities  or  isolated  centres  in  thinly 
settled  regions.  The  investigations  and  hearings  on  this  subject 
of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  resulted 
in  the  following  statement:  "The  conditions  existing  in  typical 
industrial  communities  which  are  either  wholly  or  in  large  part 
owned  or  controlled  by  a  single  corporation  or  individual  employer, 

[89] 


present  every  aspect  of  a  state  of  FEUDALISM  except  the  recognition 
of  specific  duties  on  the  part  of  the  employer.  The  employees  in 
such  communities  are  dependent  on  a  single  corporation,  or  employer, 
for  their  livelihood.  Furthermore,  the  employer  in  many  cases 
controls  the  social  and  political  life  of  such  communities,  either  by 
the  complete  absorption  of  local  political  powers  or  by  domination 
of  the  local  authorities.  The  fundamental  rights  of  citizens  in  such 
communities  are,  as  a  general  rule,  seriously  abridged  if  not  actually 
denied.  Among  the  rights  most  seriously  violated  are  the  right  of 
free  speech  and  assemblage  and  the  right  of  public  highways."  (See 
COMPANY  HOUSING  ;  COMPANY  STORE  ;  LABOR  CAMPS  ;  TRUCK  SYSTEM.) 

Company  Union  or  Inside  Union.  An  organization  of  work- 
ers within  a  particular  shop  or  establishment,  and  having  no  con- 
nection or  association  with  what  employers  call  an  "outside  union" 
— that  is  to  say,  with  any  labor  organization  outside  of  the  particular 
establishment  concerned.  Company  unions  are  commonly  initiated 
and  fostered  by  employers,  both  for  the  sake  of  more  harmonious 
relations  in  their  dealings  with  the  workers  and  for  undermining 
the  strength  of  those  "outside"  unions  with  which  their  workers 
would  otherwise  naturally  affiliate.  Thus  the  company  union  not 
only  has  no  relation  to  the  regular  trade  union  movement,  but  is  in 
direct  opposition  to  it.  Among  trade  unionists,  any  form  of  company 
union  is  commonly  known  as  a  "tame  union,"  "household  union," 
or  "YELLOW  UNION."  Among  employers,  it  is  sometimes  called  a 
"peaceful  union."  (See  DEPENDENT  UNIONISM;  SHOP  UNION; 
AMERICAN  PLAN;  SHOP  COMMITTEE;  OPEN  SHOP;  NATIONALVERBAND 
DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTEN;  YELLOW.) 

Compensation  Laws.    See  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION. 

Compensatory  Time.  An  allowance  of  time  off  during  regu- 
lar working  hours,  given  to  a  worker  as  compensation  or  offset  for 
time  which  he  has  worked  on  Sundays  or  holidays,  or  after  regular 
working  hours  on  other  days. 

Competitive  Bargaining.    See  INDIVIDUAL  BARGAINING. 

Competitive  System.  The  modern  economic  and  industrial 
organization  of  society,  resulting  from  and  consisting  in  "the  strife 
of  the  individual  or  of  a  group  of  individuals  to  gain  the  utmost 
possible  profit,  rent,  or  wages  in  free  rivalry  with  other  individuals 
or  groups  of  individuals."  Under  this  system  prices  and  wages  are 
supposedly  automatically  regulated  by  the  competition  between 

[90] 


sellers  for  customers,  and  between  buyers  for  goods  or  services. 
According  to  the  old  theorists,  it  is  the  struggle  for  existence  in  com- 
mercial and  industrial  life  which  results  in  the  SURVIVAL  OF  THE 
FITTEST,  to  the  ultimate  advantage  of  society  as  a  whole.  (See 
PROFITS  SYSTEM.) 

Composite  Branches.  In  the  British  building  trades,  these 
are  local  unions  made  up  of  workers  in  various  trades,  organized  in 
localities  where  there  are  no  branches  of  the  separate  national 
unions.  Such  "composite  branches"  are  affiliated  directly  with  the 
National  Federation  of  Building  Trade  Operatives. 

Compound  Boycott.    See  BOYCOTT. 

Compound  Craft  Union.  This  term  is  used  by  Professor 
Hoxie  in  designation  of  "a  centralized,  homogeneous  organization 
of  the  workers  in  a  number  of  related  crafts."  It  does  not  include 
all  the  workers  of  a  single  industry,  and  it  may  include  workers  in 
several  industries;  therefore  it  is  not  an  INDUSTRIAL  UNION  in  the 
strict  sense.  In  ordinary  usage,  however,  such  an  organization 
is  commonly  classified  as  an  industrial  union.  Nearly  all  "amalga- 
mated" labor  bodies  are  of  this  "compound  craft  union"  type,  which 
may  well  be  considered  a  transition  stage  between  the  "pure"  craft 
type  and  the  industrial  type  of  organization. 

Compulsory  Arbitration.  In  connection  with  labor  affairs, 
the  method  of  requiring  by  law  that  disputes  between  employer  and 
employed,  in  the  first  or  the  last  resort,  be  submitted  to  an  "impartial " 
public  tribunal  provided  for  that  purpose.  Under  nearly  all  systems 
of  compulsory  arbitration,  strikes  and  lockouts  are  either  specifically 
or  in  effect  prohibited;  the  aim  is  to  substitute  a  judicial  process  of 
settlement  for  a  trial  of  strength  between  the  contending  parties. 
A  compulsory  arbitration  law  may  apply  to  disputes  arising  within 
any  industry,  or  may  be  limited  to  disputes  in  industries  "affected 
with  a  public  interest" — such  as  public  utilities,  coal -mining,  etc. 
As  commonly  understood,  compulsory  arbitration  implies  coercive 
action  in  regard  not  only  to  submission  of  the  dispute  but  to  en- 
forcement of  the  award  or  decision.  If  only  the  first  step  be  coercive, 
leaving  acceptance  or  non-acceptance  of  the  award  to  voluntary 
action,  the  system  is  one  of  COMPULSORY  INVESTIGATION  merely. 
Up  to  the  present  time,  compulsory  arbitration  has  made  the  greatest 
progress  in  Australia,  where  it  has  been  established  mainly  through 
the  political  pressure  of  organized  labor — the  majority  party  in 
Australian  politics.  In  1894  New  Zealand  passed  a  compulsory 

[91] 


arbitration  act.  The  next  state  to  adopt  compulsory  arbitration 
was  New  South  Wales  in  1901.  It  was  followed  by  Western  Aus- 
tralia in  1902,  by  the  Commonwealth  itself  in  1904,  and  by  South 
Australia  and  Queensland  in  1912.  Meanwhile  Victoria  and  Tas- 
mania had  adopted  compulsory  WAGES  BOARDS.  In  other  countries 
compulsory  arbitration  has  made  comparatively  slight  headway. 
The  CANADIAN  INDUSTRIAL  DISPUTES  INVESTIGATION  ACT,  often 
cited  as  a  compulsory  arbitration  measure,  in  reality  only  provides 
for  coercive  action  in  connection  with  the  investigation  of  disputes 
in  certain  industries  "affected  with  a  public  interest."  The  same  is 
true  of  the  COLORADO  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  LAW,  although  this 
act  applies  to  all  industries  within  the  state.  The  KANSAS  INDUS- 
TRIAL COURT  represents  the  only  real  experiment  in  compulsory 
arbitration  yet  attempted  in  the  United  States.  Soviet  Russia 
has  at  present  a  system  which  practically  amounts  to  compulsory 
arbitration.  While  at  first  favored  by  organized  labor,  compulsory 
arbitration  is  now  strongly  opposed — in  the  United  States  at  least — 
as  nullifying  the  RIGHT  TO  STRIKE  and  creating  "the  possibility  of  a 
man  being  compelled  to  work  for  an  employer  or  under  conditions 
obnoxious  to  him,  with  the  alternative  of  fine  or  imprisonment." 
Many  employers  oppose  it  also,  as  a  public  invasion  upon  what 
they  consider  private  rights.  (See  COMMONWEALTH  COURT  OP 
CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION;  NEW  ZEALAND  INDUSTRIAL  CON- 
CILIATION AND  ARBITRATION  ACT;  INDUSTRIAL  ARBITRATION  IN 
RUSSIA;  VICTORIAN  WAGES  BOARD  SYSTEM;  AUSTRALIAN  ARBITRA- 
TION COURTS.) 

Compulsory  Award.     See  AWARD. 

Compulsory  Compensation  Acts.  See  WORKMEN'S  COM- 
PENSATION. 

Compulsory  Conciliation.     See  COMPULSORY  INVESTIGATION. 

Compulsory  Investigation  or  Compulsory  Conciliation. 
A  plan  of  dealing  with  industrial  disputes,  perhaps  best  exemplified 
in  the  CANADIAN  INDUSTRIAL  DISPUTES  INVESTIGATION  ACT.  Under 
this  plan,  a  governmental  board  or  commission  is  set  up,  with  powers 
to  gather  all  relevant  facts  relating  to  specific  disputes  between 
employers  and  employees.  No  strike  or  lockout  is  permitted  while 
such  a  dispute  is  under  investigation;  and  witnesses  may  be  sum- 
moned and  compelled  to  testify  under  oath.  When  the  investigation 
is  completed,  the  board  issues  a  public  report  of  its  findings;  and 

'[92] 


relies  wholly  upon  the  force  of  public  opinion,  thus  enlightened,  to 
determine  a  just  settlement  of  the  dispute.  This  plan  should  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  any  system  of  COMPULSORY  ARBITRA- 
TION— such,  for  example,  as  that  represented  by  the  KANSAS  INDUS- 
TRIAL COURT.  (See  COLORADO  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  LAW.) 

Compulsory  Labor  in  Russia.  Since  the  present  Russian 
State-community  guarantees  the  means  of  livelihood  to  all  its  mem- 
bers, every  able-bodied  person  is  required  to  contribute  his  or  her 
share  toward  the  work  which  is  necessary  to  provide  the  community 
with  the  means  for  the  support  of  its  members.  The  obligation  to 
work  for  the  community  begins  at  the  age  of  eighteen  and  terminates 
at  the  age  of  fifty.  Old  persons  are  supported  by  the  community; 
likewise  all  persons  who  are  permanently  or  temporarily  incapaci- 
tated for  work.  This  includes  women  for  a  period  of  eight  weeks 
before  and  eight  weeks  after  confinement.  School  children  are  re- 
quired to  take  manual  training  at  school.  As  far  as  practicable, 
every  worker  must  be  assigned  to  work  at  his  trade  or  profession, 
if  he  has  any,  and  at  his  usual  place  of  residence.  If  there  is  no 
opening  in  a  person's  chosen  field  of  work,  he  may  be  assigned  to 
and  must  accept  another  class  of  work.  If,  however,  the  work  is 
of  a  lower  grade,  the  worker  is  nevertheless  entitled  to  the  regular 
compensation  which  he  would  receive  if  employed  at  his  own  trade 
or  profession.  If  no  employment  can  be  found  for  a  worker  within 
the  district  where  he  resides,  he  may  be  assigned  to  work  in  another 
district.  (See  DISTRIBUTION  OF  LABOR  IN  RUSSIA;  REVOLUTIONARY 
LABOR  ARMIES.) 

Compulsory  Trade  Unionism.  This  term  arises  out  of  the 
common  trade  union  policy  of  seeking  to  bring  all  members  of  a 
particular  trade  or  occupation  into  the  union  for  that  trade  or  occu- 
pation, with  the  correlated  policy  of  seeking  to  prevent  the  employ- 
ment of  non-unionists  by  refusing  to  work  with  them.  In  this 
sense,  practically  all  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  tends  inevitably  in 
the  direction  of  compulsory  trade  unionism.  Obviously,  according 
to  George  O'Brien's  "Labor  Organization,"  "there  is  nothing  to  be 
gained  by  a  section  of  the  workmen  in  a  particular  trade  making  an 
advantageous  bargain  with  their  employers,  if  the  latter  are  free  to 
carry  on  their  business  by  the  aid  of  non-unionists  who  are  not 
bound  by  the  terms  of  the  agreement.  .  .  .  There  have  been  numerous 
disputes,  often  ending  in  prolonged  and  wasteful  strikes,  caused  by 
the  failure  of  employers  to  recognize  the  right  of  trade  unionists  to 
refuse  to  work  with  non-unionists,  but  at  the  present  day  the  principle 

[93] 


of   compulsory   trade   unionism   has   been   generally   recognized." 
(See  EXCLUSION  POLICY  OF  TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

Concentration  of  Capital  Theory.  As  formulated  by  Karl 
Marx,  this  is  the  theory  that  with  the  development  of  CAPITALISM 
there  must  be  an  inevitable  tendency  toward  the  concentration  of 
industrial  control  in  fewer  and  fewer  hands,  so  that  the  MIDDLE 
CLASS  must  gradually  diminish  and  at  last  disappear;  leaving  a  small 
but  immensely  powerful  capitalist  class,  or  BOURGEOISIE,  against 
which  the  PROLETARIAT  will  finally  be  pitted  in  a  bitter  conflict  for 
supremacy.  (See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM.) 

Conciliation.  In  an  industrial  sense,  the  settlement  or  at- 
tempt at  settlement  of  an  industrial  dispute  by  mutual  agreement 
between  the  two  parties  involved,  without  submitting  the  case  to 
ARBITRATION.  It  may  consist  in  direct  negotiations  between  the 
two  parties,  without  reference  to  any  outside  agency;  or  it  may  be 
the  result  of  efforts  on  the  part  of  an  impartial  intermediary,  who  acts 
as  a  go-between  for  the  two  disputants  and  endeavors  to  find  some 
common  ground  upon  which  they  may  themselves  reach  an  amicable 
settlement.  If  conciliation  fails,  arbitration  is  usually  resorted  to. 
The  essential  difference  between  these  two  processes  may  perhaps 
best  be  expressed  by  saying  that  in  conciliation  the  disputants  en- 
deavor to  convince  each  other,  with  or  without  the  help  of  a  medi- 
ating agency;  in  arbitration  they  endeavor  to  convince  a  third  party. 
"If  the  word  'conciliation'  is  to  be  applied  at  all  in  regard  to  labor 
matters  it  would  seem  desirable  to  restrict  it  to  the  settlement  of 
minor  disputes  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  labor  contract.  Even 
here  it  may  perhaps  best  be  confined  to  those  cases  where  the  parties 
directly  interested  meet  in  a  friendly  manner  to  settle  differences 
of  this  class.  In  Great  Britain  there  are  many  trades  in  which 
organizations  of  employers  and  employees  select  joint  committees 
to  which  any  dispute  of  the  members  of  the  organization  may  be 
appealed.  These  committees  are  frequently  called  boards  of  con- 
ciliation. Of  course  in  many  and  perhaps  in  most  instances  the 
action  of  these  joint  committees  consists  in  influencing  the  parties 
to  a  dispute  to  come  to  an  informal  understanding,  rather  than  in 
rendering  authoritative  decisions,  and  their  action  in  this  direction 
may  be  perhaps  accurately  described  by  the  term  'conciliation.' 
State  boards  of  arbitration  use  the  word  in  a  very  similar  sense. 
However,  the  common  usage  of  employers  and  employees  in  this 
country  gives  to  these  joint  trade  boards  the  name  of  arbitration 
boards  or  arbitration  committees.  Doubtless  '  MEDIATION  '  is  a  word 

[94] 


more  distinctively  applicable  than  'conciliation'  to  the  intervention 
of  State  boards  or  other  outside  parties."  (See  CONCILIATION  DIVI- 
SION; UNITED  STATES  BOARD  OF  MEDIATION  AND  CONCILIATION; 
PRESIDENT'S  MEDIATION  COMMISSION;  WAGE  BOARDS;  STATE  IN- 
DUSTRIAL COMMISSION;  FRENCH  CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION 
LAW;  SWEDISH  INDUSTRIAL  CONCILIATORS;  CONCILIATION  ACT.) 

Conciliation  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary  enactment  of 
1896,  since  revised  and  enlarged,  setting  up  government  machinery 
for  the  investigation  and  settlement  of  industrial  disputes.  Under 
the  Conciliation  Act  the  usual  form  of  arbitration  tribunal  was  the 
"single  arbitrator,"  an  independent  person  appointed  by  the  govern- 
ment and  sitting  as  sole  judge  except  in  cases  where  the  points  in 
dispute  necessitated  the  assistance  of  technical  "assessors."  Courts 
of  arbitration  (an  employer's  representative,  a  workmen's  repre- 
sentative, and  an  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN)  were  established  in  1908, 
but  comparatively  few  cases  have  been  referred  to  this  form  of 
tribunal.  The  provisions  of  this  Act  are  purely  voluntary,  and  con- 
tain no  element  of  compulsion. 

Conciliation  Division.  In  the  organic  act  of  March  4,  1913, 
creating  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR,  it  is  provided 
that  "the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  shall  have  power  to  act  as  MEDIATOR 
and  to  appoint  commissioners  of  CONCILIATION  in  labor  disputes 
whenever,  in  his  judgment,  the  interest  of  industrial  peace  may 
require  it  to  be  done."  No  other  provision  having  been  made  by 
Congress  for  organizing  a  bureau  or  statutory  division  for  the  purpose 
of  administering  the  power  thus  created,  it  has  been  administered 
from  the  beginning  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor  under  his  own  immedi- 
ate direction.  At  first,  from  total  lack  of  appropriations  for  the 
purpose,  the  Secretary  was  obliged  to  draw  such  assistance  as  could 
be  spared  from  bureaus  organized  for  collateral  purposes.  Notwith- 
standing that  handicap,  however,  and  others  of  a  kind  that  usually 
obstruct  the  development  in  practice  of  novel  administrative  func- 
tions, appreciable  progress  wan  made  at  once  in  conserving  the  in- 
terests of  industrial  peace.  In  the  following  years  and  supported 
by  direct  though  altogether  inadequate  appropriations,  the  Division 
of  Conciliation  in  the  Office  of  the  Secretary  has  been  established. 
The  Division  is  in  charge  of  a  Director  of  Conciliation,  assisted  by 
a  corps  of  Commissioners  of  Conciliation.  These  latter  act  as  indus- 
trial peacemakers,  endeavoring  to  bring  contending  parties  together 
and  suggesting  methods  and  alternatives  for  a  peaceful  solution  of 
the  particular  matter  in  dispute.  The  Division  has  no  power  to 

[95] 


make  decisions  or  awards  in  disputes  submitted  to  it,  its  function 
being  diplomatic  rather  than  judicial. 

Conciliator.     See  MEDIATOR. 

Conditional  Members.     See  MEMBERS  AT  LARGE. 

Conditions  of  Employment.     See  WORKING  CONDITIONS. 

Confederacao  Geral  do  Trabalho  (General  Confederation  of 
Labor).  The  principal  labor  organization  of  Portugal.  It  was 
established  in  September,  1919,  at  a  Congress  representing  100,000 
workers. 

Confederacion  General  del  Trabajo  (General  Confederation 
of  Labor).  This,  the  most  powerful  labor  body  in  Spain  and  the 
national  organ  of  the  revolutionary  syndicalist  movement  in  that 
country,  was  formed  in  1900  as  a  loose  federation  of  existing  revo- 
lutionary labor  organizations.  It  is  devoted  to  the  extreme  CLASS 
STRUGGLE,  with  the  GENERAL  STRIKE  as  its  favorite  instrument. 
In  order  to  create  a  more  efficient  fighting  organization,  it  was 
decided  at  the  Congress  of  1919  to  abolish  the  national  trade  union 
federations  which  until  then  had  been  the  chief  affiliated  bodies  of 
the  Confederation,  and  to  substitute  in  each  industrial  region  a 
Syndicate  Unico  (a  regional  ONE  BIG  UNION)  which  would  include 
all  the  trades  of  that  region.  At  the  same  Congress  it  was  decided 
to  join  the  third  INTERNATIONALE.  The  membership  of  the  Con- 
federation in  1920  was  800,000.  Violent  struggles  with  employers 
and  the  government  alike,  approximating  to  a  condition  of  civil 
war,  have  marked  the  history  of  the  Spanish  "C.  G.  T."  (See  SPAN- 
ISH LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Confederaci6n  Regional  Obrera  Mexicana  (Mexican  Re- 
gional Confederation  of  Labor).  This,  the  leading  national  labor  body 
of  Mexico,  is  modelled  after  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 
It  is  composed  of  217  workers'  associations,  mainly  CRAFT  UNIONS, 
including  thirty-five  unions  of  agricultural  laborers.  The  present 
membership  is  estimated  at  500,000.  In  opposition  to  the  Con- 
federation are  a  syndicalist  and  a  communist  organization,  and  a 
separate  "Mexican  Administration"  of  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS 
OF  THE  WORLD.  (See  PARTIDO  LABORISTA  MEXICANO.) 

Confederation  Generale  des  Syndicats  Chretiens  et  Libres 
de  Belgique  (General  Confederation  of  Christian  and  Free  Trade 
Unions  of  Belgium).  See  BELGIAN  TRADE  UNIONS. 

[96] 


Conf6deration  G6nerale  du  Travail  (General  Confedera- 
tion of  Labor).  The  chief  national  labor  organization  of  France, 
formed  in  1895  and  now  embracing  nearly  all  the  effective  trade 
unionism  of  the  country.  For  several  years  it  was  little  more  than  a 
trade  union  congress  with  a  standing  committee;  but  its  coalition 
with  the  Federation  des  Bourses  du  Travail  in  1902  gave  it  an  im- 
petus and  power  which  have  since  steadily  increased.  In  structural 
make-up,  it  has  two  distinct  bases — the  national  Federations  d'ln- 
dustrie  and  Syndicats  Nationals  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other 
a  territorial  grouping  in  the  shape  of  UNIONS  DEPARTMENTALES. 
Each  of  these  two  sections  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  Confederation; 
the  two  are  of  equal  importance  and  authority.  Each  section  keeps 
its  separate  existence  and  has  its  own  central  committee;  at  regular 
intervals  these  committees  meet  together  as  a  Comite  Conjederal. 
This  confederal  committee  elects  the  general  secretary,  and  is  the 
supreme  executive  body  of  the  C.  G.  T.  Nevertheless,  it  has  no 
mandatory  powers  over  the  constituent  units  of  the  C.  G.  T.,  all  of 
which  retain  almost  complete  autonomy.  Each  of  these  units, 
however  large  or  small,  has  one  and  only  one  representative  on  the 
Comite  Confederal,  and  but  a  single  vote.  Since  1906  only  indus- 
trial labor  organizations  have  been  allowed  to  affiliate  with  the 
C.  G.  T.,  although  the  craft  organizations  which  already  belonged  were 
permitted  to  remain.  In  the  matter  of  theories  and  policies,  the 
C.  G.  T.  has  long  been  split  into  two  rival  camps.  The  minority  or 
REFORMIST  faction  aims  only  at  the  direct  improvement  of  labor 
conditions,  and  not  at  any  catastrophic  overthrow  of  the  whole 
capitalistic  regime  by  direct  syndical  action.  It  opposes  the  GENERAL 
STRIKE  and  SABOTAGE,  aims  at  making  its  own  terms  with  the  em- 
ployers, and  favors  association  with  the  socialists.  The  revolution- 
aries, on  the  other  hand,  who  constitute  by  far  the  largest  element 
within  the  organization,  are  against  all  compromise  with  either  em- 
ployers or  socialists..  They  believe  that  the  workers,  organized  in 
INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS,  are  sufficient  to  win  economic  emancipation 
by  their  own  unaided  efforts.  They  are  both  anti-militaristic  and 
anti-patriotic.  Their  methods  are  those  of  DIRECT  ACTION,  including 
the  strike  in  all  its  forms,  sabotage,  and  the  BOYCOTT.  Occasionally, 
however,  the  two  factions  find  a  satisfactory  common  ground,  and 
each  has  served  to  tone  down  the  more  extreme  position  of  the 
other.  The  C.  G.  T.  makes  no  money  contributions  to  strikes, 
and  confines  itself  to  advice  and  propagandist  activities,  leaving  to 
the  local  and  national  units  in  each  industry  the  determination  of  all 
movements.  It  is  supported  by  per  capita  dues  paid  monthly  or 

[97] 


annually  by  its  constituent  units.  The  membership  of  the  C.  G.  T. 
was  put  at  1,500,000  in  1920,  as  against  only  about  500,000  in  1914. 
An  annual  labor  Congress,  at  which  each  national  and  local  unit, 
whatever  its  size,  is  represented  by  a  single  delegate  possessing  a 
single  vote,  is  an  important  part  of  the  C.  G.  T.'s  activities.  For 
its  part  in  the  revolutionary  general  strike  of  May,  1920,  the  French 
government  instituted  proceedings  against  the  C.  G.  T.,  with  the 
object  of  forcing  a  dissolution  of  the  organization.  A  decree  to  this 
effect  was  finally  issued  in  January,  1921,  and  an  expert  was  named 
to  dispose  of  the  Confederation's  property.  An  appeal  against  this 
decision  was  lodged  by  the  officers  of  the  organization.  (See  FRENCH 
LABOR  MOVEMENT;  SYNDICALISM;  CE-GE-TE-IST;  CONSEIL  Eco- 
NOMIQUE  DU  TRAVAIL.) 

Confederation  National  du  Travail  (National  Confederation 
of  Labor).  See  FRENCH  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Confederazione  Generate  del  Lavoro  (General  Confedera- 
tion of  Labor).  The  leading  national  labor  organization  of  Italy, 
founded  in  1906  and  constituting  the  central  coordinating  agency 
of  the  national  trade  union  federations  (FEDERAZIONE  DEI  MESTIERE), 
the  local  chambers  of  labor  (CAMERE  DEL  LAVORO),  and  a  consider- 
able number  of  individuals  not  belonging  to  any  local  union.  With 
a  membership  of  less  than  250,000  in  1918,  the  Confederation  today 
embraces  some  two  million  workers.  There  are  three  important 
gaps  in  this  imposing  organization.  It  lacks  the  powerful  Seaman's 
Union;  a  large  percentage  of  the  railway  workers,  sixty  per  cent  or 
more, who  are  generally  syndicalist;  and  most  of  the  government  em- 
ployees, especially  in  the  more  skilled  branches.  It  is,  however, 
making  headway  among  the  last  two  classes.  The  Confederation 
is  closely  affiliated  with  the  Italian  Socialist  Party — being,  indeed, 
the  latter's  creation.  While  revolutionary  in  its  ultimate  aims,  it 
seeks  the  redress  of  current  grievances  and  the  attainment  of  immedi- 
ate reforms  through  POLITICAL  ACTION.  The  Confederation  (popu- 
larly known  as  the  "C.  G.  L.")  is  managed  by  an  executive  council 
of  fifteen  members  elected  by  the  national  Congress,  and  a  general 
council  of  delegates  from  the  affiliated  organizations.  Since  the  war 
the  C.  G.  L.  has  managed  to  secure  the  almost  universal  introduction 
of  the  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY.  The  main  struggle  has  been  to  keep  pace 
with  the  mounting  COST  OF  LIVING,  but  a  new  factor  has  been  intro- 
duced in  the  spontaneous  demand  of  the  rank  and  file  for  control 
of  industry,  manifesting  itself  in  the  frequent  seizures  of  factories, 
and  the  recent  movement  of  the  metal-workers  which  was  accom- 

[98] 


panied  by  an  epidemic  of  seizures  and  almost  brought  the  country 
to  the  verge  of  revolution.     (See  ITALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Confederazione  Italiana  dei  Lavoratori  (Italian  Confedera- 
tion of  Workers).  A  national  federation  of  the  Catholic  unions 
(unioni  Cattoliche)  of  Italy.  Before  the  war  the  Catholic  unions  had 
a  membership  of  only  about  100,000.  Their  purpose  is  to  defend 
the  purely  economic  interests  of  their  members,  and  they  oppose 
and  are  opposed  by  the  socialist  and  other  revolutionary  unions. 
At  its  Congress  of  November,  1920,  the  membership  of  the  national 
organization  was  stated  to  be  1,182,491.  The  great  majority  of  the 
members  (about  950,000)  are  agricultural  workers  and  mezzadri 
or  share  tenant  farmers.  (See  ITALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Confederazione  Obrera  Brasileano  (Brazi  ian  Confederation 
of  Labor).  The  leading  national  labor  body  of  Brazil.  Until  recently 
the  labor  movement  in  this  country  was  confined  almost  entirely  to 
German  and  Italian  workers  in  the  so-called  "immigrant  colonies." 
No  details  of  the  extent  and  organization  of  trade  unionism  in  Brazil 
are  readily  available. 

Conference  Boards.  In  many  TRADE  AGREEMENTS  between 
national  unions  and  employers'  associations,  it  is  provided  that  in 
case  of  a  trade  dispute  an  attempt  at  adjustment  shall  be  made  by 
a  "conference  board"  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  representatives 
from  both  sides.  It  is  usually  agreed  that  there  shall  be  no  cessation 
of  work  pending  such  attempt  at  settlement;  but  in  case  the  confer- 
ence board  fails  in  its  attempt,  either  side  may  generally  take  such 
action  as  it  sees  fit. 

Conscientious  Withdrawal  of  Efficiency.  Some  of  the 
milder  forms  of  SABOTAGE — such  as  CA'  CANNY,  STRIKING  ON  THE 
JOB,  etc. — are  now  often  collectively  designated  under  this  euphemism 
by  members  of  the  I.  W.  W.  and  other  elements  in  the  labor  move- 
ment; the  phrase  being  preferred  on  account  of  its  implications  of 
ethical  motive  and  legal  methods  on  the  workers'  part. 

ConseilEconomique  du  Travail  (Economic  Council  of  Labor). 
Because  of  the  grave  economic  condition  of  France  following  the 
recent  war,  the  CONFEDERATION  GEN'ERALE  DU  TRAVAIL  demanded 
that  there  be  constituted  a  national  economic  council,  representative 
of  employers  and  workers,  producers  and  consumers,  for  the  purpose 
of  formulating  and  putting  into  effect  a  general  economic  programme 
to  meet  the  changed  conditions.  After  much  discussion,  the  gov- 

[99] 


ernment  appointed  a  commission  for  this  purpose;  but  as  it  proved 
unsatisfactory  to  the  labor  elements,  the  C.  G.  T.  itself,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  national  federations  of  state  employees,  cooperatives, 
and  technical  workers,  set  up  a  Conseil  Economique  du  Travail 
early  in  1920.  Its  purpose  is  to  investigate  social  and  industrial 
conditions,  study  proposed  remedies,  and  advocate  specific  reforms; 
or,  in  the  words  of  its  originators,  it  is  intended  as  "an  instrument 
for  investigation  into,  and  preparation  for,  the  part  to  be  played 
by  the  workers  in  the  community."  The  members  of  the  Council 
are  divided  into  nine  sections,  each  composed  of  at  least  three  dele- 
gates from  each  of  the  constituent  organizations.  Each  section  is 
charged  with  investigating  and  reporting  upon  a  single  phase  of 
national  industry.  At  the  head  of  the  Council  is  a  managing  com- 
mittee of  twelve  members — three  each  from  the  four  constituent 
organizations.  The  general  secretary  of  this  committee  is  the  gen- 
eral secretary  of  the  C.  G.  T.  The  Council  has  worked  out  an  elab- 
orate programme  for  the  return  to  the  community  of  the  great 
industries  or  services  (in  the  first  place  the  railways,  the  mines, 
power-stations,  etc. ,  in  fact  the  main  sources  of  energy  and  the  main 
means  of  transport),  and  the  independent  working  of  these  industries 
or  services  by  bodies  representing  three  parties  in  equal  numbers 
— producers  (manual  and  technical),  consumers  and  users,  and  the 
community.  In  connection  with  this  scheme,  the  Council  has 
recommended  the  setting  up  of  a  great  national  regulative  body,  a 
general  directorate  or  bureau  of  national  economy.  (See  INDUS- 
TRIALIZED NATIONALIZATION.) 

Conseil  Superieur  du  Travail  (Superior  Council  of  Labor). 
A  national  industrial  council  recently  established  in  France,  the 
constitution  and  duties  of  which  were  defined  in  a  government 
decree  of  January  31,  1921.  The  Council,  which  is  composed  of 
seventy-eight  members  and  is  presided  over  by  the  Minister  of 
Labor,  meets  once  a  year  for  a  period  of  fifteen  days,  although 
special  meetings  can  be  called  by  the  Minister  at  any  time.  Thirty- 
two  members  are  elected  by  employers  in  the  principal  industries, 
and  thirty-two  by  members  of  employees'  organizations  in  these 
same  industries.  In  addition  to  the  employer  and  labor  members 
of  the  Council,  three  senators  are  elected  by  the  Senate,  five  deputies 
by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  one  member  is  appointed  by  the 
Paris  Chamber  of  Commerce,  two  members  by  the  Superior  Council 
of  Cooperation,  and  three  members  are  chosen  by  the  Minister  of 
Labor  from  among  the  members  of  the  Institute  and  the  professors 

[100] 


of  the  law  faculty  of  the  University  of  Paris.  The  Council  chooses 
two  vice  presidents  from  its  members,  and  six  secretaries  are  appointed 
from  the  Labor  Department.  The  members  from  the  Senate  are 
elected  following  each  senatorial  election,  the  deputies  hold  office 
during  the  legislative  session,  and  the  other  members  for  three  years. 
A  permanent  commission,  appointed  from  among  the  members, 
carries  on  studies  in  regard  to  general  industrial  conditions,  the 
condition  of  the  workers,  and  the  relations  between  employers  and 
employees.  This  commission  presents  its  findings  to  the  Council 
and  advises  as  to  needed  reforms.  Either  a  single  report  may  be 
submitted  or  a  majority  and  a  minority  report,  and  these  reports 
form  the  subjects  for  the  deliberations  of  the  Council. 

Conseils  de  Prud'hommes  (Councils  of  Experts).  French  and 
Belgian  industrial  courts,  the  function  of  which  is  to  settle  cases  of 
dispute  between  individual  employers  and  individual  employees, 
arising  out  of  the  existing  labor  contract.  Their  purpose  is  to  avoid 
the  expense,  formality,  and  antagonism  incident  to  the  settlement 
in  ordinary  law  courts  of  minor  disputes  between  employers  and 
working  people.  The  Belgian  conseils  de  prud'hommes  have  some- 
what larger  powers  than  those  of  France;  but  in  neither  country  do 
their  functions  extend  to  the  settlement  of  general  labor  disputes, 
strikes,  or  lockouts.  The  conseils,  which  date  from  1806,  are  created 
for  particular  localities  and  for  particular  industries  or  groups  of 
industries  by  governmental  decree.  They  are  composed  of  employ- 
ers' and  workmen's  representatives  in  equal  number.  Their  decision 
has  the  force  of  a  court  order  in  most  cases.  (See  GEWERBEGERICH- 
TEN;  PROBI-VIRI.) 

Conservative,  Conservatism.  From  the  Latin  conservare — 
con  meaning  "together"  and  servare  meaning  "to  keep" — "to 
keep  together."  A  conservative  is  one  averse  by  temperament  and 
training  to  change,  one  who  wishes  to  preserve  the  existing  order 
from  fundamental  innovations.  To  quote  from  Webb's  "Industrial 
Democracy":  "The  abiding  faith  in  the  sanctity  of  vested  interests; 
the  strong  presumption  in  favor  of  the  status  quo;  the  distrust  of 
innovation;  the  liking  for  distinct  social  classes,  marked  off  from  each 
other  by  corporate  privileges  and  peculiar  traditions;  the  disgust 
at  the  modern  spirit  of  self-seeking  assertiveness;  and  the  deep- 
rooted  conviction  that  the  only  stable  organization  of  society  is  that 
based  on  each  man  being  secured  and  contented  in  his  inherited 
station  of  life — all  these  are  characteristic  of  the  genuine  Conserva- 
tive, whether  in  the  Trade  Union  or  the  State."  Conservatism  is  the 
8  [  101  ] 


philosophy  expressive  of  this  attitude  or  belief.  It  represents  the 
opposite  extreme  from  the  RADICAL  position,  with  the  LIBERAL 
occupying  the  ground  between  the  two.  (See  REACTIONARY;  RIGHT.) 

Consideration  Miners.  In  anthracite  coal-mining  these  are 
regular  contract  miners  who,  in  consequence  of  obstructions  (such 
as  stone,  slate,  dirt,  etc.)  in  their  working  chambers  or  rooms,  or  of 
bad  working  conditions,  are  unable  to  earn  on  a  PIECE  WORK  basis 
an  amount  equal  to  or  in  excess  of  a  certain  specified  rate  per  day. 
They  are  paid  the  specified  rate,  which  is  a  little  more  than  that  of 
COMPANY  MINERS,  until  they  are  able  to  earn  more  on  a  piece  work 
basis. 

Conspiracy  and  Protection  of  Property  Act.  A  British 
Parliamentary  enactment  of  1875,  which  largely  determines  the 
position  of  British  trade  unions  in  relation  to  the  criminal  law.  Its 
main  provision  is  that  "no  combination  to  do  any  act  in  furtherance 
of  a  trade  dispute  shall  be  indictable  as  a  conspiracy  unless  such  act, 
if  committed  by  one  person,  would  be  punishable  as  a  crime."  (See 
CONSPIRACY  DOCTRINE.) 

Conspiracy  Doctrine.  Since  the  beginnings  of  trade  unionism, 
many  of  the  legal  attacks  upon  organized  labor  have  been  directly 
or  indirectly  based  upon  the  common-law  doctrine  of  conspiracy. 
This  doctrine,  according  to  Commons  and  Andrews,  "makes  illegal 
acts  done  collectively  in  pursuance  of  an  agreement  which  are  legal 
when  done  by  one  person.  One  manner  of  explaining  this  result  is 
that  when  men  combine  their  motives  become  of  importance.  Their 
combination  is  legal  when  their  motive  is  primarily  to  benefit  them- 
selves, and  illegal  when  they  aim  primarily  at  the  injury  of  another. 
One  person  may  sever  all  business  relations  with  another,  if  not 
under  contract  to  continue  them,  regardless  of  the  motives  which 
may  lead  him  to  take  this  step.  But  when  workingmen  combine  to 
go  on  strike  or  to  BOYCOTT  an  employer,  the  courts  will  inquire 
whether  their  primary  motive  is  injury  to  the  employer  or  benefit 
to  themselves."  This  doctrine  involves  two  important  corollaries: 
(i)  "Where  the  purpose  of  the  combination  is  illegal  every  act  done 
in  pursuance  thereof  is  rendered  illegal,  though  the  act  may  be 
innocent  of  itself";  and  (2)  "if  an  illegal  plot  has  been  formed,  all 
of  the  conspirators  are  responsible  for  the  acts  of  any  of  the  conspir- 
ators done  in  pursuance  of  the  common  object."  In  connection  with 
court  interpretations  of  the  conspiracy  doctrine,  "there  are  three 
theories  which  underlie  most  of  the  cases  involving  collective  action 

[102] 


by  labor.  The  most  fundamental  of  these  is  the  theory  that  when 
men  combine  the  legality  of  their  acts  depends  upon  their  motives. 
Another  holds  that  intentional  interference  with  the  rights  of  others 
is  wrongful,  unless  it  results  from  the  exercise  of  equal  or  superior 
rights.  The  third  theory  places  emphasis  upon  the  element  of 
coercion  and  INTIMIDATION  involved  in  the  acts  of  combination.  In 
their  manner  of  statement  these  theories  are  wide  apart;  but  their 
practical  conclusions  have  been  much  the  same.  No  matter  which 
theory  a  court  may  entertain,  there  is  great  latitude  in  its  applica- 
tion. Under  each  theory  much  depends  upon  whether  the  demands 
of  the  workingmen  are  justified  or  unjustified.  Hence,  the  bias  of 
the  judge  is  likely  to  be  determining."  While  the  common-law 
doctrine  of  conspiracy  "is  very  generally  upheld  and  applied  very 
broadly  by  the  American  courts,  unless  it  has  been  modified  by 
statute,  there  are  some  judges  and  legal  writers  who  deny  emphatic- 
ally the  justice  of  the  principle  that  acts  which,  if  done  by  an  in- 
dividual, would  not  be  punishable  become  criminal  when  done  by 
a  combination,  asserting  that  such  a  principle  is  contrary  to  the 
fundamental  right  of  men  to  act  in  association,  and  of  the  inevitable 
trend  of  advancing  civilization  to  render  collective  action  more 
necessary.  The  highest  English  judicial  authorities  have  in  several 
cases  declared  that  the  intent  of  a  combination  to  injure  does  not 
render  civilly  unlawful  acts  which  would  not  be  civilly  unlawful  if 
done  by  an  individual ;  and  there  seems  little  doubt  that  the  tendency 
in  Great  Britain  is  to  consider  the  element  of  combination  with  un- 
lawful intent  less  significant  also  as  regards  criminal  law  than  was 
formerly  the  case.  Court  decisions  do  not  always  clearly  point  out 
the  distinction  between  civil  liability  and  criminal  liability,  or  be- 
tween the  elements  contributing  to  each.  It  is  stated  by  some  authori- 
ties that  malicious  intent  is  not  properly  to  be  taken  into  account  in 
determining  whether  an  act  creates  a  cause  of  action  for  civil  dam- 
ages, though  it  may  be  properly  considered  in  criminal  law.  This 
position,  as  just  suggested,  is  now  the  ruling  one  in  Great  Britain. 
In  the  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  the  courts  in  many  cases 
seem  clearly  to  have  held  the  opinion  that  the  presence  of  malice 
makes  an  act  civilly  unlawful  which  would  not  otherwise  be  so. 
Some  high  American  legal  authorities,  however,  dissent  directly 
from  this  position.  A  similar  conflict  of  opinion  exists  as  regards 
the  effect  of  the  presence  of  combination  upon  civil  liability.  Some 
authorities  maintain  that  acts  which  would  not  give  a  cause  of 
action  if  done  by  individuals  give  no  cause  of  action  if  done  by  a 
combination,  but  the  American  courts  in  several  important  cases 

[103] 


have  taken  the  opposite  position."     (See  CONSPIRACY  AND  PROTEC- 
TION OF  PROPERTY  ACT.) 

Construction  Camp.    See  LABOR  CAMPS. 

Consumers'  Cooperation.  That  form  of  COOPERATION  which 
consists  essentially  in  "a  union  of  many  consumers  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  in  the  purchase  of  commodities  advantages  impossible 
to  be  obtained  by  one,  through  an  equitable  division  of  the  profits 
derived  from  their  purchase."  There  are  various  plans  of  consumers' 
cooperation,  differing  considerably  in  detail ;  but  the  principal  method 
adopted  in  the  great  system  of  cooperative  retail  and  wholesale 
stores  in  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  that  mainly  followed  in  other 
countries,  is  the  ROCHDALE  PLAN.  Consumers'  cooperation  is  some- 
times called  "distributive  cooperation";  and  the  associations  are 
known  as  "distributive  societies"  or  "store  societies."  (See  WHOLE- 
SALE COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES;  DISCOUNT  SOCIETIES.) 

Consumers'  Leagues.  Organizations  whose  main  object  is 
to  secure  adequate  investigation  of  the  conditions  under  which 
manufactured  goods,  particularly  articles  of  wearing  apparel,  are 
made  and  sold;  to  educate  the  consuming  public  to  a  recognition  of 
its  economic  and  social  responsibilities  and  power,  and  so  direct  its 
force  to  ameliorating  the  conditions  of  industrial  workers,  particu- 
larly women  and  children;  and  to  promote  new  laws  or  enforce  old 
ones,  in  the  interests  of  the  working  classes.  The  National  Con- 
sumers' League,  organized  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  has  done 
effective  work  in  combating  the  SWEATING  SYSTEM  by  granting  the 
use  of  its  "Consumers'  League  Label"  to  manufacturers  in  certain 
fields  who  fulfill  the  League's  requirements  as  to  methods  and  con- 
ditions of  employment,  i.e.,  obedience  to  the  factory  laws,  all  goods 
made  upon  the  premises,  no  OVERTIME  work,  and  no  children 
under  sixteen  employed.  It  also  successfully  initiated  a  nation- 
wide movement  for  "early  Christmas  shopping"  in  the  interests  of 
retail  clerks,  and  has  been  active  in  securing  the  Saturday  half- 
holiday  for  salesgirls  in  New  York  and  other  large  cities. 

Continental  Union.  See  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL 
UNION;  TRADE  UNION. 

Contingent  Benefits.    See  STRIKE  PAY. 
Contingent  Fund.    See  STRIKE  FUND. 

Continuation  Schools.  As  commonly  understood,  these  are 
special  schools  or  classes  in  which  children  and  other  persons  indus- 

[104] 


trially  employed  may  carry  on  a  "continuation"  of  such  general 
education  as  they  have  had  before  entering  industry.  The  instruc- 
tion is  thus  mainly  or  wholly  of  a  non-vocational  character.  As  thus 
defined,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  continuation  school  is  one  particular 
form  of  the  PART-TIME  SCHOOL.  Some  writers,  however,  make  no 
distinction  in  their  use  of  the  two  terms;  while  others  maintain  a 
distinction  based  on  the  difference  between  day-time  and  evening 
instruction.  Still  others  define  the  continuation  school  as  one  which 
"continues"  the  purely  trade  instruction  of  a  person  industrially 
employed,  thus  making  it  synonymous  with  what  is  commonly 
known  as  a  "trade  extension  school."  While  much  confusion  exists 
in  the  matter,  the  most  generally  accepted  definition  is  that  given 
at  the  beginning  of  this  paragraph.  (See  FACTORY  SCHOOLS;  WORKS 
SCHOOLS.) 

Continuity  of  Employment.  This  phrase  is  used  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Webb  in  designation  of  one  of  the  seven  classes  of  regu- 
lations which  trade  unionism  seeks  to  enforce.  This  class  has  to  do 
in  general  with  all  trade  union  methods  and  proposals  intended  to 
do  away  with,  or  to  materially  lessen,  UNEMPLOYMENT. 

Continuous  Arbitration.  The  system  of  IMPARTIAL  MA- 
CHINERY for  the  ARBITRATION  of  minor  disputes  arising  under  written 
TRADE  AGREEMENTS  is  of  course  more  effective  where  the  machinery 
is  of  permanent  rather  than  temporary  nature.  It  is  therefore  not 
uncommon,  especially  where  the  organizations  of  employers  and 
employees  are  strong  and  where  the  AGREEMENT  SYSTEM  has  been 
highly  developed,  to  find  joint  committees,  chosen  by  the  organiza- 
tions themselves  in  a  more  or  less  formal  manner,  which  remain 
in  office  for  the  entire  period  of  the  agreement  and  have  jurisdiction 
over  all  disputes.  In  some  of  these  cases  an  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN 
is  selected  in  advance  for  the  entire  period,  while  in  other  cases  a 
"single  arbitrator"  is  chosen  to  act  only  in  particular  disputes 
where  the  representatives  of  the  organizations  themselves  fail  to 
agree.  The  advantage  of  a  permanent  joint  committee  consists 
not  merely  in  the  fact  that  its  members  become  more  experienced; 
but  especially  in  the  fact  that,  since  the  machinery  is  always  ready 
to  hand,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  stronger  disposition  to  make  use  of 
it  than  where  the  parties  must  first  select  ARBITRATORS  to  act  regard- 
ing their  particular  dispute.  This  plan  of  permanent  arbitration 
machinery  is  often  known  as  "continuous  arbitration."  "It  is  a  fre- 
quent provision  of  written  agreements  as  to  the  conditions  of  labor 
that  no  specific  clause  of  the  agreement  itself  shall  be  subject  to 

[105] 


arbitration.  In  other  words,  the  judicial  act  of  interpreting  the  agree- 
ment shall  not  override  the  quasi-legislative  act  of  establishing  the 
conditions  of  labor  by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING.  .  .  Agreements  fre- 
quently declare  that,  pending  the  arbitration  of  disputed  matters, 
there  shall  be  no  cessation  of  employment,  and  that  the  decisions 
of  arbitrators  shall  be  binding  upon  both  parties.  It  is  very  rare, 
however,  to  find  any  definite  method  of  enforcing  the  decision  in 
case  the  parties  to  a  dispute  refuse  to  abide  by  it.  The  rejection  of 
the  decision  of  arbitrators  is  indeed  by  no  means  uncommon.  It 
occurs,  however,  less  frequently  than  is  sometimes  supposed.  Where 
the  system  of  collective  bargaining  and  arbitration  has  become 
established  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  both  parties  recognize 
what  a  disadvantage  to  themselves  and  to  the  trade  generally  would 
result  from  a  complete  break-up  of  the  system  because  of  refusal 
to  carry  out  agreements  or  the  decisions  of  arbitrators.  It  is  where 
the  system  of  collective  bargaining  itself  is  but  little  developed  and 
works  more  or  less  intermittently  that  the  decisions  of  arbitrators 
are  apt  to  be  violated."  (See  HART,  SCHAFFNER  &  MARX  LABOR 
AGREEMENT;  PROTOCOL.) 

Continuous  Industry.  One  in  which  work  is  carried  on 
night  and  day  practically  without  interruption — either  throughout 
the  year  or  for  several  weeks  or  months  at  a  stretch.  Such  public 
services  as  railroads,  telegraph  and  telephone  companies,  electric 
lighting  plants,  etc.,  must  necessarily  operate  on  a  continuous  basis. 
An  example  of  another  sort  is  the  steel  industry,  where  economical 
operation  is  secured  by  keeping  up  continuously  in  all  departments 
the  great  heat  required  for  working  the  metal.  Any  unnecessary 
cooling,  such  as  would  result  from  shutting  down  for  a  few  hours, 
is  a  loss  of  time  and  money.  Given  continuous -operation  in  any 
industry,  men  are  needed  twenty-four  hours  a  day.  Not  the  same 
men,  of  course — but  always,  day  and  night,  a  full  crew  must  be  on 
hand.  When  one  crew  leaves  the  plant,  another  must  step  into  its 
place.  This  arrangement  requires  a  division  of  the  day  into  fairly 
equal  parts.  It  may  be  separated  into  two  parts,  with  two  crews  of 
men  working  twelve  hours  each;  or  there  may  be  three  crews,  each 
with  an  eight-hour  day.  (See  SHIFT  SYSTEM;  LONG  TURN;  ONE 
DAY'S  REST  IN  SEVEN.) 

Contract  at  Will.  In  the  labor  sense,  an  agreement  between 
one  or  more  employers  and  one  or  more  workers  which  is  subject 
to  termination  at  any  time  by  either  party  to  the  agreement.  Also 
called  "indeterminate  contract."  (See  TRADE  AGREEMENT.) 

[106] 


Contract,  Freedom  of.    See  FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT. 

Contract  Labor.  Generally  speaking,  any  form  of  labor  the 
performance  of  which  can  be  enforced  at  law.  It  differs  from  SERVILE 
LABOR  in  that  it  is  based  upon  a  contract  or  agreement  voluntarily 
entered  into.  In  this  sense,  INDENTURED  SERVICE  is  the  earliest 
historical  form  of  contract  labor.  As  now  used,  the  term  generally 
has  specific  reference  to  the  system  under  which  laborers  are  imported 
from  a  foreign  country,  under  agreement  to  work  for  a  particular 
employer.  Although  apparently  based  on  FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT, 
this  system  has  in  fact  often  resulted  in  compulsory  service  and 
PEONAGE.  The  alien  contract  labor  laws  passed  by  Congress  during 
the  period  1885-1917  were  directed  against  this  and  other  forms  of 
INDUCED  IMMIGRATION;  but  they  have  had  small  effect  in  stopping 
the  flow  of  unskilled  laborers  from  abroad.  Contract  labor  is  also 
one  of  the  principal  forms  of  NATIVE  LABOR  in  tropical  or  sub-tropical 
countries  undergoing  capitalist  exploitation.  (See  PADRONE  SYSTEM.) 

Contract  Mining.  With  particular  reference  to  coal-mining, 
where  this  system  largely  prevails,  "contract  mining"  is  only  another 
name  for  the  PIECE  WORK  system  of  wage  payment.  In  bituminous 
mines  the  worker  is  generally  paid  according  to  the  weight  of  the 
coal  which  he  cuts  out — at  so  much  per  ton;  while  in  the  anthracite 
mines  he  is,  as  a  rule,  paid  according  to  measurement — at  so  much 
a  cubic  yard  or  so  much  a  mine  car.  (See  CHECKWEIGHER;  SCREEN- 
ING SYSTEM;  DOCKAGE  SYSTEM;  DEAD  WORK;  TONNAGE  MEN; 
ABNORMAL  PLACE;  CONSIDERATION  MINERS.) 

Contract  Scab.     See  UNION  SCAB. 

Contract  Shop.  As  commonly  used,  this  term  denotes  a 
shop  or  factory  which  accepts  a  clause  in  its  TRADE  AGREEMENT 
with  one  or  more  unions  to  the  effect  that  none  but  union  members 
in  good  standing  shall  be  employed.  (See  CLOSED  SHOP.) 

Contract  System.  In  connection  with  labor  affairs,  this 
term  commonly  denotes  any  arrangement  by  which  industrial 
operations  are  carried  on  under  the  direction  and  control  of  an 
intermediary  between  the  ENTREPRENEUR  and  the  workers,  such 
intermediary  receiving  for  the  output  or  result  a  definite  sum  agreed 
upon  in  advance.  In  the  simplest  form  of  the  contract  system,  the 
intermediary  (called  the  contractor)  agrees  to  find  the  necessary 
labor  for  a  specified  job,  engages  and  pays  the  individual  workers, 
and  receives  a  lump  sum  from  the  entrepreneur  for  the  resultant 

[107] 


output.  If  materials  are  required,  the  entrepreneur  supplies  them. 
In  other  forms  of  the  system,  not  only  materials  but  working  quar- 
ters and  equipment  are  thus  supplied,  the  work  being  carried  on  in 
the  establishment  of  the  entrepreneur.  In  such  cases  the  laborers 
may  be  employed  directly  by  the  contractor,  or  they  may  be  employed 
and  paid  by  the  owner  of  the  industry,  who  charges  their  wages 
against  the  amount  payable  to  the  contractor.  This  latter  plan 
takes  away  from  the  contractor  the  power  to  cut  the  workers'  wages. 
The  contractor  in  this  case  is  simply  a  piece  worker  on  a  large  scale, 
his  profit  from  the  contract  depending  wholly  upon  the  speed  at 
which  he  can  induce  those  under  him  to  turn  out  their  work.  In 
its  most  objectionable  form,  as  found  in  the  garment  trades,  the 
contract  system  is  inevitably  associated  with  the  SWEATING  SYSTEM. 
In  nearly  all  its  forms,  it  is  actively  opposed  by  organized  labor. 
It  is  sometimes  difficult  in  specific  cases  to  distinguish  the  contract 
system  from  what  is  called  SUB-CONTRACTING,  and  indeed  some  writers 
make  practically  no  distinction  between  the  two.  (See  NEW  ENG- 
LAND CONTRACT  PLAN;  CONTRACT  SYSTEM  IN  THE  GARMENT  TRADES; 
BUTTY  SYSTEM;  STEVEDORE  SYSTEM;  PIECE  MASTER  OR  JOBBER; 
COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK;  JOB  WORK.) 

Contract  System  in  the  Garment  Trades.  In  these  trades 
it  has  "long  been  customary  to  have  the  garments  cut  on  the  premises 
of  the  "manufacturer,"  but  instead  of  being  finished  there  they  are 
farmed  out  to  competing  contractors,  who  either  run  small  shops  of 
their  own  or  sub-contract  the  work  out  to  persons  who  take  it  to 
their  own  homes.  This  system  leads  to  various  evils,  of  which 
SWEATING  is  the  chief;  but  these  evils  have  been  at  least  mitigated 
by  the  increasing  UNIONIZATION  of  garment  workers  in  our  largest 
cities.  According  to  Professor  Commons,  "the  unlimited  hours  of 
work,  often  seven  days  in  the  week,  is  a  feature  of  the  contracting 
system.  The  contractor  himself  works  unlimited  hours.  His  shop 
is  open  most  of  the  time.  He  deals  with  people  who  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  regular  hours.  He  keeps  them  in  the  dark  with  regard  to 
the  prevailing  number  of  hours  that  other  people  work.  The  con- 
tractor is  an  irresponsible  go-between  for  the  manufacturer,  who  is 
the  original  employer.  He  has  no  connection  with  the  business  inter- 
ests of  the  manufacturer  nor  is  his  interest  that  of  his  help.  His 
sphere  is  merely  that  of  a  middleman;  he  is  practically  useless  in  a 
large  factory.  He  holds  his  own  mainly  because  of  his  ability  to 
get  cheap  labor,  and  is  in  reality  merely  the  agent  of  the  manufac- 
turer for  that  purpose.  In  this  he  generally  succeeds,  because  he 

[108] 


lives  among  the  poorest  class  of  people,  knows  them  personally, 
and  knowing  their  circumstances  can  drive  the  hardest  kind  of  a 
bargain.  A  very  large  number  of  the  people  who  work  in  the  sewing 
trade  for  contractors  usually  hope  to  become  contractors  themselves. 
When  they  succeed  in  this  they  reduce  the  prices,  since  the  con- 
tractor when  he  first  takes  out  work  takes  it  for  less  money  than 
other  contractors."  (See  INSIDE  SHOP;  TASK  SYSTEM;  HOME  WORK; 
OUTWORK;  SUB-CONTRACTING;  SWEAT  SHOP;  SWEATER;  PARASITIC 
INDUSTRIES.) 

Contract  System  of  Convict  Labor.  Under  this  system 
contracts  are  made  with  persons,  firms,  or  corporations  in  accordance 
with  which  convicts  are  employed  in  industrial  work  at  certain  agreed 
prices  for  their  labor  for  fixed  periods  of  time,  the  prisoners  working 
under  the  immediate  direction  of  the  contractor  or  his  agents,  but 
remaining  under  the  general  supervision  and  control  of  the  prison 
authorities.  The  contractors  are  frequently  furnished  with  the  power 
and  even  the  machinery  necessary  for  carrying  on  the  work  by  the 
institutions  in  which  the  convicts  are  imprisoned.  (See  CONVICT 
LABOR  SYSTEMS;  PRISON  LABOR.) 

Contracting  Out.  This  term  refers  to  the  practice  of  seeking 
relief  from  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  and  other  labor  laws  by  re- 
quiring or  persuading  an  employee  to  sign  a  contract  releasing  the 
employer  from  liability  under  such  laws.  In  England  contracts 
made  by  employees  releasing  their  employer  from  liability  arising 
under  these  statutes  are  perfectly  valid  and  enforceable.  An  em- 
ployee may  therefore  waive  the  benefit  under  these  acts,  and  such 
waiver  will  be  binding  not  only  against  himself  but  against  his 
personal  representatives  as  well.  In  the  United  States  the  courts 
are  generally  of  a  contrary  opinion,  and  the  rule  of  law  that  prevails 
here  is  that  it  is  against  public  policy  for  an  employee  to  contract 
in  advance  to  release  his  employer  from  the  liability  created  by 
these  statutes.  (See  WAGE  AGREEMENTS  IN  GERMANY;  ELECTIVE 
COMPENSATION  ACTS.) 

Contributory  Negligence.     See  EMPLOYER'S  LIABILITY. 
Control  of  Industry.     See  WORKERS'  CONTROL. 

Convener.  In  England,  an  official  whose  function  it  is  to 
call  together  the  SHOP  STEWARDS'  committee  in  a  particular  works. 
Usually,  but  not  invariably,  he  also  acts  as  chairman  of  the  committee. 

Convention.    See  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 

[109] 


Conventional  Necessities.  Those  articles  of  food,  dress, 
etc.,  or  that  style  of  living  which,  though  non-essential  to  physical 
well-being,  have  become  by  custom  "necessary"  to  persons  in  various 
walks  or  stations  of  life.  (See  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  ;  FAMILY  BUDGET.) 

Conversion  Training.  That  form  of  intensive  industrial  edu- 
cation which  takes  advantage  of  a  worker's  previously  obtained 
skill  in  one  trade  or  occupation  and  prepares  him  for  an  allied  trade 
or  occupation.  Conversion  training  was  practiced  on  a  large  scale 
during  the  recent  war,  particularly  in  the  shipbuilding  and  munition 
industries. 

Convict  Labor  Systems.  The  various  systems  authorized  by 
statutes  in  force  in  the  United  States  for  the  employment  of  con- 
victs may  be  grouped  under  two  generic  classes,  as  follows:  (i) 
Systems  under  which  the  product  or  profit  of  the  convicts'  labor  is 
shared  by  the  State  with  private  individuals,  firms,  or  corporations; 
(2)  systems  under  which  convicts  are  worked  wholly  for  the  benefit 
of  the  State,  or  its  political  subdivisions,  or  public  institutions. 
Under  the  first  class  three  distinct  systems  are  authorized,  known 
respectively  as  the  CONTRACT  SYSTEM,  the  PIECE  PRICE  SYSTEM,  and 
the  LEASE  SYSTEM.  Under  the  second  class  three  systems  also  are 
authorized,  commonly  called  the  PUBLIC  ACCOUNT  SYSTEM,  the  STATE 
USE  SYSTEM,  and  the  PUBLIC  WORKS  AND  WAYS  SYSTEM.  All  but  the 
two  systems  last  named  are  vigorously  opposed  by  organized  labor, 
because  of  the  demoralizing  competition  which  they  introduce 
with  "free"  workers.  (See  PRISON  LABOR;  REGIE;  ACCORD  SYSTEM.) 

Coolie  Labor.  The  word  "coolie"  is  commonly  used  in  desig- 
nation of  any  native  day-laborer  in  India,  China,  and  the  South 
Pacific  Islands.  In  the  United  States  "coolie  labor"  almost  always 
denotes  Chinese  labor.  Particularly  in  agriculture,  but  in  various 
forms  of  manufacturing  also,  coolie  labor  is  prevalent  to  a  consid- 
erable degree  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  where  it  is  strongly  opposed  by 
white  labor.  The  chief  objection  to  the  Chinese  laborer  is  stated 
to  be  that  he  does  not  spend  in  this  country  what  he  earns,  and  there- 
fore does  not  contribute  a  normal  measure  of  prosperity  to  trade 
and  industry  as  a  consumer.  Another  alleged  objection  is  that  he 
renders  a  supply  of  white  labor  more  or  less  impossible  in  the  same 
locality  or  industry,  and  hence  displaces  a  class  of  labor  whose  STAND- 
ARD OF  LIVING  is  much  higher  than  his  own.  Finally,  he  is  said  to 
shut  out  unskilled  labor  of  all  the  white  races  from  localities  in  which 
he  constitutes  the  main  element  of  supply.  The  various  CHINESE 


EXCLUSION  LAWS  enacted  by  Congress  have  mitigated  but  by  no 
means  eliminated  the  problem  of  coolie  labor. 

Cooperation.  In  a  general  sense,  the  theory  that  MUTUAL 
AID  and  not  competition  is  the  fundamental  law  of  life,  that  the 
individual  best  serves  his  own  interests'  by  serving  the  interests  of 
others,  with  "each  for  all  and  all  for  each"  as  the  guiding  maxim  of 
society.  In  the  more  common  and  specific  sense,  cooperation  is  the 
combination  of  persons  into  associations  or  societies  for  economic 
advantage  "whether  in  the  purchase  and  distribution  of  commodi- 
ties for  consumption,  or  in  the  production  of  commodities,  or  in  the 
borrowing  and  lending  of  capital  among  workmen."  There  are,  then, 
three  principal  forms  of  cooperation:  (i)  That  which  is  carried  on 
by  associations  of  persons  who  desire  to  benefit  themselves  as  con- 
sumers by  saving  the  merchant's  profits,  commonly  called  distri- 
butive or  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION;  (2)  that  which  is  carried  on 
by  associations  of  persons  who  desire  to  benefit  themselves  as  pro- 
ducers by  eliminating  the  employer's  profits,  commonly  called  pro- 
ductive or  PRODUCERS'  COOPERATION;  and  (3)  that  which  is  carried 
on  by  associations  of  persons  who  desire  to  benefit  themselves  by 
the  use  of  their  combined  capital  and  their  combined  credit,  commonly 
called  CREDIT  COOPERATION.  Each  form  of  cooperation  presents 
separate  features,  advantages,  and  problems,  but  the  essence  of 
the  plan  in  each  form  is  the  elimination  of  the  middleman.  The 
cooperative  movement,  however,  considers  not  only  the  purity  of 
the  goods  bought  but  the  conditions  under  which  they  were  pro- 
duced, the  wages  paid  workers  in  their  production,  and  the  hours 
worked;  in  short,  it  endeavors  to  raise  the  standards  all  along  the 
line  from  production  to  consumption.  The  inovement  is  of  British 
origin,  Robert  Owen  (1771-1858)  being  commonly  regarded  as  its 
father.  Its  greatest  original  impetus,  however,  came  with  the  estab- 
lishment in  1844  of  the  Rochdale  Society  of  Equitable  Pioneers, 
composed  of  twenty-eight  weavers  of  Rochdale,  Lancashire,  who 
sought  to  find  relief  from  the  poverty,  unemployment,  adulterated 
food,  extortionate  prices,  and  other  evils  from  which  they  were 
suffering  by  getting  together  a  little  supply  of  joint  capital  and 
opening  a  small  shop  where  provisions  and  other  necessities  were 
sold  to  their  members.  From  this  humble  beginning  has  grown  the 
great  cooperative  movement  of  today,  which  involves  some  fifty 
million  persons  throughout  the  world.  According  to  Adams  and 
Stunner,  "cooperation  differs  from  PROFIT  SHARING  primarily  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that,  in  its  industrial  form,  at  least,  its  aim  is  to 

[in] 


modify  radically,  and  finally  to  utterly  abolish,  the  WAGE  SYSTEM. 
Moreover,  cooperation  is  essentially  democratic,  while  profit  sharing 
is  essentially  paternalistic.  The  latter  is  an  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  capitalist  class  to  increase  net  profits  by  means  of  a  bonus 
to  labor  more  or  less  contingent  upon  increased  industry  and  care, 
while  the  former  is  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  working  class  to  abolish 
profits  by  distributing  surplus  funds  among  those  whose  labor  or 
trade  has  created  the  surplus.  Profit  sharing  aims  to  increase  the 
total  production  of  wealth,  and  cooperation  aims  to  promote  its 
more  equitable  distribution."  While  many  cooperators  are  social- 
ists, cooperation  differs  fundamentally  from  SOCIALISM  in  that  it 
neither  demands  nor  implies  any  radical  transformation  in  the  pres- 
ent political  State.  "It  begins  within  the  framework  of  present 
industrial  society,  but  proposes  to  transform  it  gradually  and 
peacefully,  though  completely,  by  abolishing  a  distinct  capitalist 
class  of  employers,  the  leading  class  at  present  in  that  society,  com- 
prising those  who  are  not  inappropriately  called  CAPTAINS  OF' 
INDUSTRY.  Cooperation  does  not  desire  fundamental  change  of 
law,  for  it  hopes  by  means  of  voluntary  associations  to  unite  labor 
and  capital  in  the  same  hands — the  hands  of  the  actual  workers. 
Repudiating  State  help,  it  proudly  adopts  as  its  device,  'self-help.'" 
Historically,  cooperation  has  played  an  important  part  in  many 
phases  of  the  American  labor  movement,  and  of  late  trade  unionism 
in  this  country  has  shown  a  decided  tendency  to  experiment  with 
cooperative  enterprises,  in  both  the  consuming  and  the  producing 
fields.  (See  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION;  PRODUCERS'  COOPERA- 
TION; ROCHDALE  PLAN;  WHOLESALE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES;  TRADE 
UNION  COOPERATION;  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT;  CREDIT  CO- 
OPERATION; AGRICULTURAL  COOPERATION;  COOPERATIVE  ASSO- 
CIATIONS; COPARTNERSHIP;  INTERNATIONAL  COOPERATIVE  ALLIANCE; 
COOPERATIVE  LEAGUE  OF  AMERICA;  COOPERATIVE  UNION;  MAISONS 
DU  PEUPLE  ;  together  with  the  various  cross  references  under  these 
headings.) 

Cooperative  Associations  or  Cooperative  Societies.  Unions 
of  consumers  or  producers,  organized  under  any  plan  or  method  of 
COOPERATION,  are  so  called.  Such  associations,  as  well  as  their  indi- 
vidual members,  are  often  known  as  "cooperatives" — or,  in  short- 
ened form,  "coops." 

Cooperative  Commonwealth.  The  ideal  of  a  State  organized 
as  a  fraternal  brotherhood,  in  which  industry  will  be  conducted 
through  the  cooperative  efforts  of  all  members  of  the  State-corn- 

[112] 


munity,   is  often  thus  designated.      (See  MUTUALISM;  SOCIALIST 
COMMONWEALTH.) 

Cooperative  Companionships.  See  ASSOCIATIONS  OUVRI- 
ERES  DE  PRODUCTION;  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT. 

Cooperative  Crews.     See  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT. 

Cooperative  Day -Labor  System.  See  COOPERATIVE  EM- 
PLOYMENT. 

Cooperative  Employment.  There  are  two  principal  forms 
of  the  plan  generally  known  by  this  name,  according  to  Commons 
and  Andre ws's  "Principles  of  Labor  Legislation."  One  of  these 
forms  is  the  cooperative  day-labor  system,  as  applied  in  New 
Zealand  and  New  South  Wales.  "This  is  a  time  or  piece  work 
system  under  which  men  out  of  employment  arrange  themselves 
in  small  groups,  averaging  about  fourteen  (the  groups  were  at  first, 
and  occasionally  still  are,  larger),  select  one  or  two  'headmen,' 
and  enter  into  contracts  with  the  government  for  sections  of  public 
work  at  'schedule  rates'  based  on  the  estimates  of  the  government 
engineers  in  charge  of  the  work."  Under  this  plan  the  government 
actually  directs  the  work.  The  second  form  is  found  principally 
in  France  and  Italy,  where  workmen  organize  their  own  groups  and, 
as  such,  contract  for  government  work.  The  government  officials 
are  not  in  charge  of  the  work,  but  turn  it  over  to  the  groups  of 
workmen,  the  plan  being  a  modification  of  the  competitive  contract 
system  rather  than  a  form  of  direct  employment.  Cooperative 
employment  is  sometimes  called  "direct  labor."  The  groups  of 
workmen  under  such  a  plan  are  often  known  as  "cooperative  crews," 
or  in  France  as  "cooperative  companionships."  (See  ASSOCIATIONS 

OUVRIERES  DE   PRODUCTION;  SOCIETA  DI  LAVORO  J  ARTEL.) 

Cooperative  League  of  America.  Although  previously  ex- 
istent as  a  federation  of  the  principal  cooperative  societies  of  the 
United  States,  this  organization  was  reconstituted  as  a  permanent 
national  body  at  the  second  National  Cooperative  Convention 
held  in  November,  1920.  The  objects  of  the  League  are  "to  promote 
the  cause  of  COOPERATION  ;  to  develop  mutual  aid  in  place  of  antago- 
nism; to  favor  the  spread  of  knowledge  of  cooperative  methods; 
to  unite  all  consumers  of  the  United  States  for  the  above  purposes 
and  for  the  purpose  of  international  federation ;  and  to  encourage 
the  acquirement  of  the  agencies  of  production."  The  plan  as  adopted 
provides  for  state  leagues  with  local  autonomy,  and  for  district 

[113] 


federations  within  the  state.  The  national  organization  of  which 
the  state  leagues  will  be  members  will  have  no  control  over  them 
except  that  the  constituent  societies  must  be  acceptable  to  it. 

Cooperative  Piece  Work.  The  arrangement  under  which 
PIECE  WORK  wages  are  paid  for  the  collective  output  of  a  group  of 
workers,  the  amount  paid  being  divided  equally  among  all  the 
members  of  the  group.  This  is  often  called  COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK; 
but  strictly  speaking  it  is  merely  one  form  of  collective  piece  work. 
(See  FELLOWSHIP  PIECE  WORK;  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT; 
STATION  SYSTEM.) 

Cooperative  Railway  Agreements.  See  BROTHERHOOD  CO- 
OPERATIONS. 

Cooperative  Union.  A  propagandist  federation,  organized 
in  1869,  of  all  the  chief  cooperative  societies  in  Great  Britain,  and 
some  in  Ireland.  It  looks  after  their  legal  and  political  interests, 
carries  on  educational  work,  organizes  local  conferences  and  exhibi- 
tions, and  manages  the  great  national  Cooperative  Congress  held 
once  a  year.  More  than  1300  societies  were  affiliated  with  the 
Union  in  1919.  In  nearly  every  European  country  the  cooperative 
societies  are  similarly  federated. 

Cooperatives.     See  COOPERATIVE  ASSOCIATIONS. 
Coops.    See  COOPERATIVE  ASSOCIATIONS. 
Copartnership.     See  LABOR  COPARTNERSHIP. 
Copartnership  Societies.    See  PRODUCERS'  COOPERATION. 

Copartnership  Tenancy  Societies.  See  TENANTS'  COPART- 
NERSHIP SOCIETIES. 

Corn  Production  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary  enactment 
of  1917  which  was  intended,  during  the  critical  war  period  of  food 
shortage,  to  encourage  agricultural  production.  It  established  a 
system  of  joint  boards  in  every  county  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
empowered  to  fix  a  legal  MINIMUM  WAGE,  for  a  prescribed  normal 
working  day,  for  all  agricultural  laborers. 

Corporation.  As  the  typical  form  of  industrial  organization 
in  the  United  States,  the  corporation  bears  an  important  relation 
to  the  general  LABOR  PROBLEM.  According  to  the  staff  report  of  the 
FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS,  "in  transporta- 

[114] 


tion  approximately  100  per  cent  of  the  wage  earners  are  employed 
by  corporations;  in  mining  90  per  cent;  and  in  manufacturing  75 
per  cent."  The  main  outlines  of  corporate  organization  are  thus 
stated:  "The  actual  ownership  of  a  corporation  is  vested  in  the 
stockholders  and  bondholders,  whose  only  interest  in  the  industry 
is  represented  by  certificates  upon  the  basis  of  which  they  expect 
the  payment  of  interest  or  dividends  at  stated  intervals.  The 
control  of  the  property,  as  far  as  operation  is  concerned,  rests  finally 
with  the  stockholders,  or  with  some  particular  class  of  stockholders 
whose  shares  entitle  them  to  vote.  The  stockholders,  however, 
act  through  the  Board  of  Directors,  who  are  usually  elected  in  such 
a  way  that  they  represent  only  the  dominant  interest.  As  far  as 
the  organization  of  the  corporation  is  concerned,  the  principal 
function  of  the  Board  of  Directors  is  to  select  the  executive  officials. 
These  executive  officials,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  select  the 
numerous  superintendents,  foremen  and  petty  bosses  by  whom  the 
direct  operation  of  the  enterprise  is  managed  and  through  whom  all 
the  workers  are  hired,  discharged  and  disciplined.  .  .  .  Here,  then, 
is  the  field  of  industrial  relations :  Masses  of  workers  on  the  one  side 
dealing  in  some  manner  with  foremen  and  superintendents  on  the 
other,  behind  whom  is  an  organization  of  executive  officials,  repre- 
senting in  turn  the  Board  of  Directors,  who  are  the  chosen  represent- 
atives of  the  stockholders.  The  crux  of  the  whole  question  of 
industrial  relations  is:  Shall  the  workers  for  the  protection  of  their 
interests  be  organized  and  represented  collectively  by  their  chosen 
delegates,  even  as  the  stockholders  are  represented  by  their  Direc- 
tors and  by  the  various  grades  of  executive  officials  and  bosses?" 
(See  TRUST;  ABSENTEE  CAPITALISM;  INTER-CHURCH  STEEL  RE- 
PORT.) 

Corporation  Schools.  Those  FACTORY  SCHOOLS  conducted 
by  large  industrial  corporations  in  the  United  States,  particularly 
the  schools  which  aim  at  developing  specialized  leaders — superin- 
tendents, engineers,  etc. — rather  than  the  industrial  rank  and  file, 
are  commonly  so  called.  Some  writers  use  the  term  "corporation 
school"  as  an  inclusive  designation  for  all  educational  activities 
maintained  by  employers,  whether  in  the  nature  of  specific  job 
instruction,  training  for  trade  mastery  and  craftsmanship,  or 
general  education  which  supplies  the  background  missed  because  of 
inefficient  or  insufficient  schooling. 

Corporatisme.  CRAFT  UNIONISM,  particularly  that  of  the 
"business"  type,  is  so  called  in  France,  where  it  is  opposed  by  the 

[us! 


majority  of  trade  unionists  as  making  for  "craft  selfishness"  and 
the  creation  of  "a  working-class  aristocracy." 

Cost  Budget.     See  FAMILY  BUDGET. 

Cost  of  Living.  As  commonly  understood,  the  pecuniary 
cost  of  the  commodities  and  services  actually  received  by  the  mass 
of  the  people.  In  modern  industrial  society,  the  "cost  of  living" 
is  intimately  related  to  the  whole  subject  of  WAGES.  If  nominal 
wages  are  to  be  translated  into  real  wages,  it  is  necessary  to  know, 
not  only  the  pecuniary  amount  of  the  earnings,  but  also  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  commodities  for  which  they  can  be  exchanged. 
"In  the  usual  sense  of  the  term,  'cost  of  living'  does  not  mean  the 
cost  of  bare  subsistence,  whether  of  the  commodities  actually  pur- 
chased by  persons  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  or  of  the  commodities 
which  would  just  suffice  to  sustain  life  if  purchasers  were  guided 
by  dietetic  considerations.  It  means  the  actual  expenditure  of  each 
of  the  several  grades  of  which  the  body  of  a  nation  is  composed. 
Primarily,  of  course,  it  is  'the  working  classes'  that  have  to  be 
considered.  .  .  .  The  first  object  of  an  inquiry  into  the  cost  of 
living  is  the  ascertainment  of  the  facts  with  regard  to  the  expendi- 
ture of  a  particular  individual  or  family,  or  of  a  typical  individual 
or  family  of  a  particular  grade  or  class,  during  the  period  (week, 
month,  or  year)  chosen  for  the  investigation.  The  figures,  when 
obtained,  afford  valuable  information.  They  indicate,  for  instance, 
how  the  expenditure  is  distributed  over  the  various  kinds  of  wants 
— food,  housing,  fuel,  etc. — and  how  much  remains  over  for  other 
purposes  when  necessary  wants  have  been  supplied.  But  having 
ascertained,  in  this  way,  some  particular  cost  of  living,  we  cannot 
but  go  on  to  compare  it  with  other  costs  of  living.  We  naturally 
desire  to  compare  the  total  cost,  or  the  manner  in  which  it  is  divided, 
in  the  case  of  a  particular  class,  with  that  of  the  same  class  at  a  dif- 
ferent time  in  the  same  country,  or  at  the  same  time  in  a  different 
country  or  in  a  different  district,  or  of  a  different  class  in  the  same 
country.  The  subject,  therefore,  roughly  divides  itself  into  the 
primary  investigation  and  the  subsequent  comparison."  The  primary 
investigation  consists  in  the  collection  and  analysis  of  statistical 
material  in  the  form  of  FAMILY  BUDGETS,  scales  of  retail  prices,  etc. 
The  subsequent  comparison  is  intended  to  show  the  distribution 
of  expenditure  in  the  several  "classes"  of  society,  the  cost  of  living 
in  different  countries  or  in  different  parts  of  the  same  country  at  the 
same  time,  the  cost  of  living  in  the  same  country  at  different  times, 

[n6] 


etc.     (See  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES;  LIVING  WAGE;  INDEX  NUMBERS; 
STANDARD  OF  LIVING.) 

Cottage  Industry.  A  term  formerly  in  common  use  to  de- 
note such  industries  or  occupations  as  were  carried  on  in  the  home, 
often  by  the  womenfolk  of  men  who  tilled  the  fields  or  worked  in 
shops.  Cottage  industry  still  plays  a  very  important  part  in  the  life 
of  Russia,  many  of  the  articles  used  by  the  peasants  being  made  in 
this  way.  In  1915  there  were  15,000,000  peasants  engaged  in  cottage 
industries,  mostly  farmers  filling  in  their  winter  time.  Many  of  them 
are  associated  with  the  Russian  cooperative  movement.  (See 
KUSTARS.) 

Cotton  Men.  Members  of  the  various  unions  of  English 
cotton  spinners,  weavers,  and  cardroom  operatives  are  so  called. 
These  unions,  which  are  among  the  largest  and  wealthiest  in  Eng- 
land, are  ultimately  federated  in  the  United  Textile  Factory  Workers' 
Association,  which  focuses  the  opinion  of  all  the  British  cotton 
operatives  on  fundamental  issues  of  common  concern  and  interest. 

Cotton  Spinners'  Parliament.  A  name  given  to  the  supreme 
governing  body  of  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Operative  Cot- 
ton Spinners,  an  important  British  national  union.  It  consists  of 
representatives  (not  merely  delegates),  elected  annually  from  the 
various  provinces  and  districts  included  in  the  Association,  and  meet- 
ing quarterly  with  sovereign  powers.  It  appoints  its  own  Executive 
Council  and  officers,  including  the  GENERAL  SECRETARY  himself, 
who  are  directly  and  continuously  responsible  to  it  instead  of,  as 
ordinarily  in  the  trade  union  world,  to  the  whole  body  of  members 
of  the  society.  Other  large  British  textile  unions  are  governed  on 
much  the  same  plan,  though  there  are  variations  in  detail. 

Council  of  Action.  At  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  British 
labor  early  in  August,  1920,  when  resumption  of  the  war  against 
Russia  seemed  imminent,  the  meeting  warned  the  government 
that  the  whole  industrial  power  of  the  organized  workers  would  be 
used  to  stop  war,  and  appointed  a  "Council  of  Action"  consisting 
of  fifteen  representative  labor  leaders  with  power  to  take  all  steps 
necessary  to  this  end.  At  a  later  meeting  the  Council  of  Action  was 
unanimously  endorsed  by  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY,  which  recom- 
mended the  levy  of  a  halfpenny  upon  every  member  of  the  Party 
to  raise  a  fund  for  the  requirements  of  the  Council. 

Councils  of  Experts.    See  CONSEILS  DE  PRUD'HOMMES. 


Councils  of  Exploitation.  The  factory  councils  or  WORKS 
COUNCILS  of  northern  Italy  are  so  called.  Under  this  plan,  the 
workers  of  each  department  of  a  factory  or  industry  elect  a  represent- 
ative. The  departments  of  the  administrative  and  the  technical 
personnel  also  separately  elect  their  representatives.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  these  three  groups  elect  an  executive  committee  for  the 
factory,  and  this  committee  is  then  charged  with  the  duty  of  receiv- 
ing the  complaints,  requests,  and  suggestions  of  the  departmental 
representatives,  and  of  discussing  them  with  the  management. 

Councils  of  Labor  and  Industry.  As  found  in  some  Euro- 
pean countries — e.g.,  France,  Belgium,  and  Austria — these  are 
bodies  composed  partly  of  representatives  chosen  in  equal  numbers 
on  the  nomination  of  labor  organizations  and  of  associations  of  capi- 
talists and  manufacturers,  and  partly  of  experts  appointed  by  the 
government.  One  of  their  principal  functions  is  to  aid  the  national 
legislature  in  framing  and  enacting  labor  laws,  but  they  exercise 
a  considerable  measure  of  control  over  general  industrial  arrange- 
ments and  relations  as  well.  (See  BELGIAN  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS.) 

Country  Money.  An  allowance  in  addition  to  wages  made  to 
English  workers  in  the  building  trades  who  are  assigned  to  a  job  in 
the  country.  The  payment  of  such  an  allowance  is  often  stipulated 
in  the  WORKING  RULES  or  BY-LAWS  of  British  trade  unions. 

Country  without  Strikes.  See  NEW  ZEALAND  LABOR  MOVE- 
MENT. 

County  Average  System.  As  practiced  in  certain  English 
coal-mining  districts,  this  is  the  method  whereby  a  standard  list  of 
average  PIECE  WORK  earnings  for  each  class  of  mine  workers  is  fixed 
by  negotiation  for  the  whole  county,  and  the  prices  to  be  paid  in  par- 
ticular mines  or  in  particular  seams  are  fixed  by  local  negotiation 
through  a  joint  committee  on  the  basis  of  the  county  average  rate. 

Court  of  Industrial  Relations.  See  KANSAS  INDUSTRIAL 
COURT. 

Cover -Up  Men.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

Craft.  As  generally  used  in  the  labor  movement,  this  term 
denotes  a  particular  trade  or  specialized  occupation  of  any  sort; 
as  distinguished  from  an  industry,  which  may  include  several  or  many 
different  trades  or  occupations.  (See  CRAFT  UNION.) 

Craft  Autonomy.    See  AUTONOMY. 


Craft  Committee.  In  some  industrial  establishments  a  SHOP 
COMMITTEE  representative  of  all  the  workers  engaged  at  a  particular 
craft  or  occupation  is  so  called. 

Craft  Jurisdiction.     See  JURISDICTION. 

Craft  Union.  One  of  the  two  main  structural  types  of  trade 
union — the  other  being  the  INDUSTRIAL  UNION.  In  its  simplest  and 
commonest  form,  the  craft  union  is  made  up  of  workers  engaged 
on  a  single  industrial  process,  or  on  several  processes  so  nearly 
akin  that  any  worker  can  do  any  other's  work.  Such,  for  ex- 
ample, is  a  union  of  bricklayers,  of  blacksmiths,  of  plumbers,  etc. 
A  second  form  of  craft  union  is  that  composed  of  workers  engaged 
upon  a  larger  group  of  kindred  processes,  still  following  the  lines  of 
the  type  of  work  done.  Thus,  all  engineers  might  be  organized  in 
one  union,  all  wood-workers  in  another,  all  leather-workers  in 
another,  and  so  forth.  This  form,  variously  known  as  "occupational 
union"  and  "kindred  craft  union,"  is  often  classified  as  a  form  of 
industrial  unionism.  It  is,  however,  strictly  craft  unionism,  because 
it  follows  the  lines  of  common  crafts  or  occupations  rather  than  those 
of  the  actual  structure  of  industry.  As  a  rule,  craft  unions  exist 
wholly  or  mainly  in  the  case  of  occupations  which  do  or  did  formerly 
demand  a  comparatively  high  degree  of  skill,  rather  than  in  those 
which  require  only  unskilled  or  semi-skilled  workers.  Since  the  craft 
union  often  extends  over  a  number  of  different  industries,  and  in- 
cludes only  one  class  of  workers  in  each,  it  acts  as  an  obstacle  to  the 
formation  of  industrial  unions.  For  the  same  reason,  it  is  not  as 
amenable  as  an  industrial  union  to  ideas  involving  WORKERS'  CON- 
TROL of  industry;  and  is,  in  general,  a  much  less  effective  fighting 
body  than  the  industrial  union.  "The  separateness  of  crafts  is  being 
broken  down  by  the  improvement  of  machinery,  and  it  is  becoming 
more  possible  for  the  work  of  the  skilled  to  be  done  by  the  semi- 
skilled. A  strike  of  a  single  craft  thus  becomes  less  and  less  likely  to 
succeed.  The  skilled  are  forced  to  stand  together,  and  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  unskilled.  Craft  unionism  is  out  of  date 
because  the  isolation  of  the  craft  is  itself  becoming  a  thing  of  the 
past.  The  small  unions  have  to  act  together,  and  in  order  to  do  this 
at  all,  they  must  at  least  federate."  The  argument  for  craft  organiza- 
tion, on  the  other  hand,  is  based  partly  on  the  common  interest  of 
the  workers  at  a  given  occupation.  "A  cooper  is  a  cooper,  whether 
the  chief  business  of  his  employer  is  the  making  of  beer  or  the  pro- 
duction of  barrels  for  sale.  Whatever  the  nature  of  the  establish- 
ment he  may  chance  to  work  in,  he  should,  it  is  said,  be  governed 

[119] 


by  the  same  trade  rules,  and  should  stand  with  his  fellow-craftsmen 
in  maintaining  common  rates  of  wages  and  conditions  of  labor.  To 
undertake  to  unite  in  a  single  organization  workmen  of  various 
degrees  of  skill,  various  rates  of  customary  wages,  and  various  degrees 
of  economic  power  against  their  employers,  must  result,  it  is  asserted, 
in  divided  councils  and  conflicting  interests  within  the  organization, 
and  in  consequent  weakness."  According  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb: 
"The  whole  history  of  trade  unionism  confirms  the  inference  that  a 
trade  union,  formed  as  it  is  for  the  distinct  purpose  of  obtaining 
concrete  and  definite  material  improvements  in  the  conditions  of 
its  members'  employment,  can  not,  in  its  simplest  form,  safely  extend 
beyond  the  area  within  which  those  identical  improvements  are 
shared  by  all  its  members — can  not  spread,  that  is  to  say, 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  a  single  occupation."  Craft  unionism 
tends,  as  a  rule,  toward  conservatism  and  BUSINESS  UNIONISM,  and 
does  not  lend  itself  to  the  development  of  radical  theories  within  the 
trade  union  movement.  (See  COMPOUND  CRAFT  UNION;  MATERIAL 
TRADE  UNION;  CLOSED  UNION;  AMALGAMATION;  OLD  UNIONISM; 
PURE  AND  SIMPLE  UNIONISM;  CLASS  UNIONISM;  UNION  SCAB.) 

Craft  Unionism.  The  theory  and  practice  of  trade  union 
organization  on  the  basis  of  craft  or  occupational  distinctions,  rather 
than  along  the  lines  of  the  actual  structure  of  industry.  (See  CRAFT 
UNION;  BUSINESS  UNIONISM;  PURE  AND  SIMPLE  UNIONISM;  OLD 
UNIONISM;  CORPORATISME.) 

Credit  Cooperation.  That  form  of  COOPERATION  which  is 
carried  on  by  associations  of  persons  who  wish  to  benefit  themselves 
by  the  use  of  their  combined  capital  and  their  combined  credit. 
The  purpose  is  generally  to  supply  loans  for  productive  purposes 
to  agricultural  workers,  town  craftsmen,  small  traders,  home  seekers, 
etc.  Credit  cooperation  has  flourished  chiefly  in  Germany  and  else- 
where on  the  continent,  in  the  form  of  CREDIT  UNIONS.  In  the  United 
States,  the  BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATIONS  constitute  the  main 
type  of  cooperative  credit. 

Credit  Unions.  Local  cooperative  banking  associations,  formed 
to  borrow  money  on  the  collective  credit  and  responsibility  of  a 
group  (e.g.,  a  trade  union,  the  employees  of  a  single  establishment, 
etc.),  where  individual  credit  would  not  be  sufficient.  The  money 
thus  borrowed  is  in  turn  loaned  out  to  members  of  the  association 
for  various  productive  purposes.  The  two  main  types  of  credit 
unions  in  Europe,  where  this  form  of  CREDIT  COOPERATION  chiefly 

[120] 


flourishes,  are  the  RAIFFEISEN  BANKS  and  the  SCHULZE-DELITZSCH 
BANKS. 

Criminal  Conspiracy.     See  CONSPIRACY  DOCTRINE. 

Criminal  Syndicalism  Laws.  During  the  period  1917-1920, 
statutes  defining  and  punishing  "criminal  SYNDICALISM"  and  SABO- 
TAGE were  enacted  by  the  Federal  government  and  nearly  one-half 
of  the  state  governments  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  by  Alaska 
and  Hawaii.  There  is  a  quite  general  similarity  in  the  acts,  syndi- 
calism being  defined  as  a  doctrine  advocating  the  commission  of 
acts  of  violence,  terrorism,  and  crime  to  effect  political  and  industrial 
changes;  and  sabotage  as  the  doing  of  physical  damage  or  injury  to 
physical  property  for  like  purposes.  Not  only  is  assemblage  for  the 
teaching  of  the  doctrine  penalized,  but  the  opening  of  halls  and  the 
permitting  of  assemb  ages  are  likewise  punishable  in  many  of  the 
laws.  In  New  Mexico,  employers  hiring  "anarchists"  are  guilty  of 
a  misdemeanor.  Washington  not  only  punishes  sabotage,  but  also 
makes  it  a  felony  to  interfere  with  or  supplant  the  owner's  manage- 
ment of  his  industry  or  to  threaten  such  interference.  (See  SABOTAGE 
LAW.) 

Crimping  System.  In  present-day  use,  this  term  refers  to 
a  common  method  of  recruiting  seamen.  For  many  years  sailors 
have  been,  and  still  are,  largely  at  the  mercy  of  a  professional  "crimp  " 
or  "crimper"  when  seeking  a  berth  on  a  ship.  The  "crimp"  or 
"crimper"  usually  runs  a  sailors  rooming  and  boarding  house, 
and  undertakes  to  furnish  shipmasters  with  crews.  The  crimping 
system  is  responsible  for  terrible  abuses  and  inhuman  practices 
in  securing  crews.  One  of  the  draft  conventions  adopted  at  the  second 
GENERAL  LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS  will, 
when  converted  into  law,  make  the  business  of  the  "crimp"  illegal, 
and  will  require  each  country  to  organize  and  maintain  a  system 
of  public  employment  offices  for  seamen. 

Cropper  or  Share  Cropper.  An  agricultural  laborer  who  is 
paid  not  in  money  but  in  a  share  of  the  crop  which  he  helps  to  pro- 
duce. The  term  is  sometimes  applied  to  a  tenant  farmer  who  pays 
the  rent  of  his  farm  with  a  share  of  the  crop  produced,  but  the  latter 
is  more  properly  known  as  a  "share  tenant."  (See  METAYAGE.) 

Crumb  Boss.    See  FLUNKEY. 

Cul-de-sac  Occupations.     See  BLIND  ALLEY  OCCUPATIONS. 

[121] 


Cyclical  Fluctuations.  The  fairly  regular  alternations  be- 
tween periods  of  industrial  prosperity  and  depression  in  the  economic 
life  of  a  country,  or  in  specific  trades  and  industries,  over  a  consider- 
erable  period  of  time.  These  cyclical  fluctuations  have  an  important 
bearing  upon  trade  unionism.  Whether  considered  in  relation  to 
national  conditions  as  a  whole  or  to  conditions  in  a  particular  indus- 
try, the  relative  strength  of  trade  unionism  is  generally  highest 
during  a  period  of  industrial  prosperity  and  lowest  during  a  period 
of  depression.  The  reasons  for  this  are  thus  summarized  by  Dr. 
Weyforth:  "In  the  first  place,  during  a  period  of  depression  when 
there  is  much  UNEMPLOYMENT,  it  becomes  difficult  or  impossible  for 
many  members  to  keep  up  their  dues.  Many  lapses  occur  for  this 
reason.  Secondly,  not  only  is  it  harder  to  hold  old  members,  but  it 
is  more  difficult  to  obtain  new  ones.  When  many  people  out  of  em- 
ployment are  waiting  to  take  the  workman's  place,  he  is  less  inclined 
to  run  the  risk  of  losing  his  job  by  antagonizing  his  employer  through 
trade-union  activities  than  at  times  when  jobs  are  plentiful.  Finally, 
the  union  occupies  a  weaker  strategical  position  in  times  of  depression 
than  in  times  of  prosperity.  When  business  is  active,  employers 
are,  generally  speaking,  reaping  their  harvest.  Hence  an  interruption 
to  their  business  is  extremely  undesirable,  and  often  they  may  prefer 
to  yield  to  the  demands  of  their  workmen  rather  than  undergo  the 
losses  incident  to  a  shut-down.  Moreover,  even  in  case  the  employer 
is  inclined  to  fight,  he  will  find  it  more  difficult  to  recruit  his  force 
with  competent  non-union  workmen  because  there  is  a  smaller  labor 
supply  of  the  unemployed  available  than  in  times  of  depression. 
But  in  times  of  depression  not  only  is  the  employer,  because  of  the 
large  supply  of  unemployed  workmen,  better  able  to  make  a  fight 
against  the  union,  but  he  is  also  less  disinclined  to  do  so,  since  with 
business  running  low,  a  strike  of  his  men  may  provide  a  convenient 
excuse  for  shutting  down  his  plant."  (See  INDUSTRIAL  CYCLE; 
SEASONAL  FLUCTUATIONS;  LABOR  SURPLUS.) 

Czecho -Slovak  Labor  Organizations.  See  ODBOROVE  SDRU- 
ZENI  CESKOSLOVENSKE;  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND  IN  DER 
TSCHECHOSLOWAKISCHEN  RfiPUBLIK. 


D 


Dago.  A  common  American  nickname  for  Italians,  Spaniards, 
and  Portuguese — especially  of  the  common  laboring  class.  The 
word  is  said  to  be  an  English  and  American  sailors'  corruption  of 
"Diego" — the  Spanish  equivalent  for  "James."  (See  GINNY;  WOP.) 

Danbury  Hatters  Case.  As  the  result  of  a  BOYCOTT  by  the 
American  Hatters'  Union  against  a  hat  manufacturer  of  Danbury, 
Conn.,  in  1902,  legal  action  was  brought  by  the  manufacturer  against 
the  members  of  the  union.  In  1908  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  declared  the  boycott  illegal,  and  authorized  suit  for  damages 
under  the  Federal  anti-trust  laws.  Judgment  for  $230,000  was 
obtained  in  1909  against  the  individual  members  of  the  union; 
and  six  years  later  this  judgment,  with  additional  penalties  and 
interest  to  date,  was  confirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court.  A  general 
assessment  was  levied  on  organized  workers  throughout  the  country 
to  relieve  the  individuals  affected  by  the  decision.  This  case  is  one 
of  the  most  famous  in  American  labor  history. 

Danish  General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  See  DE 
SAMVIRKENDE  FAGFORBUND  i  DANMARK. 

Darg.  A  Scottish  term,  meaning  a  day's  work  or  a  definite 
TASK.  In  some  British  coal-mining  districts  the  ' '  darg  "  is  the  amount 
of  daily  maximum  output  for  an  individual  hewer — a  limit  which  he 
is  supposed  not  to  exceed.  Such  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT  is,  however, 
not  countenanced  by  the  leading  miners'  unions. 

Darwinian  Theory.    See  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST. 

Day  Laborer.  One  who  is  engaged  to  work  from  day  to  day 
without  any  time  contract  of  employment,  express  or  implied,  and 
who  is  subject  to  discharge  without  notice.  Day  labor,  in  this  sense, 
is  nearly  always  synonymous  with  COMMON  LABOR. 

Day  Rooms.     See  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS. 

[123] 


Day  Work,  (i)  Labor  performed  during  the  normal  daylight 
period,  as  distinguished  from  NIGHT  WORK.  (2)  That  system  of  wage 
payment  under  which  the  worker  receives  a  specified  sum  for  a  work- 
ing day  consisting  of  a  specified  number  of  hours.  The  term  "day 
work"  is  often  used  as  a  general  synonym  for  TIME  WORK.  (See 
DAY  LABORER;  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY;  SIX-HOUR  DAY;  NORMAL  DAY; 
SixTEEN-HouR  LAW;  THREE  EIGHTS;  OVERTIME.) 

De  Leonites.  See  WORKERS'  INTERNATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL 
UNION. 

De -registration.  See  COMMONWEALTH  COURT  OF  CONCILI- 
ATION AND  ARBITRATION. 

De  Samvirkende  Fagforbund  i  Danmark.  The  general 
federation  of  Danish  trade  unions — the  leading  national  labor  organi- 
zation of  Denmark.  At  the  close  of  1919  fifty-seven  trade  unions 
were  affiliated  with  this  central  body,  representing  a  constituent 
membership  of  about  278,000.  The  organization  works  in  close 
cooperation  with  the  Socialdemokratiske  Forbund  (Social  Democratic 
Federation),  which  represents  the  political  side  of  the  moderate 
socialist-labor  movement  of  Denmark.  The  more  radical  elements 
among  the  Danish  workers  are  represented  on  the  industrial  side  by 
the  Association  of  Free  Trade  Unions,  consisting  of  unions  (mainly 
syndicalist  in  character)  which  have  seceded  from  the  conservative 
Federation.  In  addition  to  these  two  organizations,  there  are  a 
few  CHRISTIAN  UNIONS  and  YELLOW  UNIONS  in  Denmark,  but  these 
are  of  minor  importance. 

Dead  Line.     See  TASK  SYSTEM. 

Dead  Work.  In  coal -mining,  the  underground  worker  is 
frequently  required  to  set  up  timbers,  remove  falls,  and  handle 
impurities  in  the  vein  where  he  is  working.  The  question  of  whether 
this  "dead  work,"  as  it  is  called,  should  be  paid  for  is  a  common 
source  of  contention  in  CONTRACT  MINING. 

Death  Benefits.  Payments  made  by  trade  unions,  MUTUAL 
AID  SOCIETIES,  etc.,  to  the  widows  or  other  dependents  of  deceased 
members,  at  the  time  of  the  latter's  death.  This  is  the  commonest 
form  of  BENEFIT  in  American  trade  unions.  Except  in  the  case  of 
those  unions  which,  like  the  leading  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS,  con- 
duct a  regular  insurance  business,  the  death  benefit  seldom  exceeds 
an  amount  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  extraordinary  expenses  in- 
volved in  the  death  and  burial  of  a  member.  Some  gradation,  accord- 

[124] 


ing  to  the  length  of  membership  in  good  standing,  is  often  found. 
In  addition  to  the  ordinary  form  of  death  benefit,  as  described 
above,  some  trade  unions  pay  a  benefit  upon  the  death  of  a  member's 
wife,  or  (more  rarely)  upon  the  death  of  a  dependent  widowed 
mother  of  an  unmarried  member.  Death  benefits  are  sometimes 
called  "funeral  benefits,"  "mortuary  benefits,"  or  (in  England) 
"burial  money."  (See  INDUSTRIAL  INSURANCE.) 

Debs  Case.  In  1894,  in  connection  with  a  railway  strike 
originating  in  the  Pullman  Car  Company  works  and  thence  spreading 
to  nearly  all  the  railway  lines  radiating  from  Chicago,  a  BLANKET 
INJUNCTION  was  issued  by  a  Federal  court  enjoining  the  officers  of 
the  American  Railway  Union  and  "all  other  persons"  from  inter- 
fering with  the  transportation  of  the  mails  and  with  the  flow  of 
interstate  commerce.  For  violation  of  this  injunction,  Eugene  V. 
Debs,  then  president  of  the  American  Railway  Union,  was  imprisoned 
for  six  months  on  a  charge  of  contempt  of  court.  ^The  case  is  of  con- 
siderable historical  importance  in  American  labor  annals,  as  involving 
the  first  important  use  of  the  injunction  as  an  anti-labor  weapon. 

Decasualization.  The  organized  effort,  largely  by  means  of 
national  LABOR  EXCHANGES,  to  do  away  with  the  evils  of  CASUAL 
LABOR  by  increasing  the  opportunities  for  steady  and  permanent 
employment.  W.  H.  Beveridge,  the  standard  authority  on  unemploy- 
ment problems,  reached  the  conclusion  that  "the  only  way  to  prevent 
the  creation  of  casuals  is  to  eliminate  the  casual  job,  and  the  only 
way  to  eliminate  the  casual  job  is  to  unify  four  or  five  demands  for 
casuals  to  work  a  day  into  a  solid  week's  work  for  one  man."  He 
therefore  proposed  "that  all  the  irregular  men  for  each  group  or 
similar  employers  should  be  taken  on  from  a  common  centre  or 
exchange,  and  that  this  exchange  should  so  far  as  possible  concen- 
trate employment  upon  the  smallest  number  that  will  suffice  for  the 
work  of  the  group  as  a  whole."  (See  LIVERPOOL  DOCK  SCHEME; 
LONDON  DOCK  SCHEME.) 

Decentralization  (Trade  Union).     See  CENTRALIZATION. 

Decentralization  of  Industry.  The  congestion  of  industrial 
enterprises  in  large  cities,  resulting  from  the  tendency  toward  LOCALI- 
ZATION OF  INDUSTRY,  has  given  rise  to  a  counter-movement  often 
known  as  decentralization  of  industry.  This  latter  is  the  movement 
away  from  city  centres  out  into  the  suburbs  or  outside  of  the  estab- 
lished city  limits  and  into  new  towns  or  smaller  cities  immediately 
adjoining  the  larger  centre.  This  is  a  conscious  movement  directed 

["Si 


by  advantages  foreseen  and  calculated.  As  a  result  of  it,  towns  and 
communities  have  been  built  up  as  single  units  or  developments 
within  a  short  space  of  time.  The  reasons  for  this  movement  of 
industry  away  from  the  city  are  a  desire  for  more  land  as  well  as  for 
cheap  land,  lower  taxes,  lower  rentals,  and  avoidance  of  congestion; 
the  desire  to  get  more  light  and  air  and  quieter  surroundings,  and 
to  avoid  the  contagion  of  strikes  due  to  workers  living  together 
under  conditions  of  city  life.  Transportation  is  an  element  in  the 
movement,  and  has  greatly  facilitated  it. 

Defense  Fund.     See  STRIKE  FUND. 
Defense  Strike.     See  LOCKOUT. 

Deferred  Participation.  As  a  method  or  form  of  PROFIT 
SHARING,  this  may  be  described  as  the  plan  under  which  the  indi- 
vidual worker's  share  in  the  profits  of  a  concern  is  either  deposited 
in  an  ESTABLISHMENT  FUND  for  the  general  benefit  of  the  whole  body 
of  employees,  or  credited  directly  to  the  individual  participant  but 
paid  to  him  only  when  he  has  attained  a  specified  age,  has  worked 
in  the  establishment  for  a  certain  number  of  years,  or  for  some 
reason  is  in  serious  need  of  money.  Provision  is  usually  made  for  the 
payment  of  sums  due  employees  to  their  heirs.  In  some  cases  of 
deferred  participation  the  worker  forfeits  his  right  to  payment  if  he 
leaves  the  employ  of  the  concern,  though  in  many  instances  special 
provision  is  made  for  him  to  receive  all  sums  due  upon  giving  reason- 
able notice  of  withdrawal. 

Delegate  Meeting.  See  BRITISH  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZA- 
TION; REPRESENTATIVE  MEETING. 

Delegu6  de  1'Atelier.    See  SHOP  STEWARD. 

Demarcation.  In  the  British  labor  movement  this  term  is 
generally  synonymous  with  the  American  term  JURISDICTION  as  ap- 
plied to  the  conflicting  claims  of  two  or  more  trade  unions  to  the 
exclusive  handling  of  certain  kinds  of  work,  materials,  tools,  ma- 
chines, etc.  The  disputes  arising  in  connection  with  such  claims  are 
called  "demarcation  disputes."  (See  OVERLAP;  APPORTIONMENT 
LISTS.) 

Demarcation  Disputes.  See  JURISDICTION;  DEMARCATION; 
OVERLAP. 

Democratic  Control.     See  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

[126] 


Democratic  Labor  Union  of  the  Philippines.  See  PHILIP- 
PINES, LABOR  ORGANIZATION  IN  THE. 

Demonstration  Strike.  One  instituted  for  the  purpose  of 
manifesting  the  strength  and  solidarity  of  the  workers,  and  of  thus 
impressing  or  intimidating  employers  or  public  authorities. 

Department  Councils.  A  general  name  for  the  subordinate 
delegate  bodies  representative  of  trade  unions  affiliated  with  each 
of  the  five  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 
Such  councils  are  usually  organized  on  a  territorial  basis — local, 
district,  and  state;  but  in  the  case  of  the  RAILROAD  EMPLOYEES' 
DEPARTMENT  the  basis  of  organization  is  a  single  railroad  system. 
Trade  unions  affiliated  with  a  local  department  council  are  also 
required,  as  a  rule,  to  affiliate  with  the  regular  CITY  CENTRALS  in 
their  respective  localities.  (See  BUILDING  TRADES  COUNCILS;  METAL 
TRADES  COUNCILS;  UNION  LABEL  LEAGUES;  SYSTEM  FEDERATIONS.) 

Department  of  Education  of  the  Pennsylvania  Federation 
of  Labor.  A  scheme  of  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION  adopted  in 
1920  by  the  State  Federation  of  Labor  of  Pennsylvania.  By  means 
of  "trade  union  colleges"  in  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg,  labor  classes 
in  half  a  dozen  other  cities,  and  circuit  lecture  courses  in  the  remain- 
ing districts,  trade  unionists  throughout  the  state  are  given  the 
advantage  of  instruction  in  general  cultural  and  economic  subjects. 
The  work  is  financed  mainly  by  the  local  unions  and  CITY  CENTRALS. 

Department  of  Labor.  See  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF 
LABOR. 

Departments  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  The 
revised  rules  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  relating  to  so-called  "Departments," 
as  adopted  in  1914,  contain  the  following  sections:  "(i)  For  the 
greater  development  of  the  labor  movement,  Departments  subordi- 
nate to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  are  to  be  established  from 
time  to  time  as  in  the  judgment  of  the  Federation,  or  of  its  Executive 
Council,  may  be  deemed  advisable.  Each  Department  is  to  manage 
and  finance  its  own  affairs.  (2)  To  be  entitled  to  representation  in 
any  Department,  organizations  eligible  to  join  it  must  first  be  and 
remain  in  affiliation  to  the  Federation.  (3)  To  be  entitled  to  repre- 
sentation in  local  councils,  or  railway  SYSTEM  FEDERATIONS  of  De- 
partments, local  unions  are  required  to  be  part  of  affiliated  national 
or  international  unions  affiliated  to  Departments  or  directly  affiliated 
to  the  Federation.  Said  local  unions  shall  first  be  and  remain  in 


affiliation  to  central  labor  unions  chartered  by  the  Federation.  (4) 
The  fundamental  laws  and  procedure  of  each  Department  are  to 
conform  to,  and  be  administered  in  the  same  manner  as,  the  laws 
and  procedure  governing  the  Federation.  (5)  Each  Department  to 
be  considered  the  official  method  of  the  Federation  for  transacting 
the  portion  of  its  business  indicated  by  the  name  of  the  Department, 
in  consequence  of  which  affiliated  and  eligible  organizations  should 
be  part  of  their  respective  Departments  and  should  comply  with 
their  actions  and  decisions,  subject  to  appeal  therefrom  to  the 
Executive  Council  and  the  conventions  of  the  Federation."  The 
Departments  so  far  organized  are  five  in  number — the  BUILDING 
TRADES  DEPARTMENT,  METAL  TRADES  DEPARTMENT,  RAILWAY 
EMPLOYEES'  DEPARTMENT,  MINING  DEPARTMENT,  and  UNION  LABEL 
TRADES  DEPARTMENT.  Each  Department  has  its  own  officers  and 
executive  council,  maintains  its  own  national  headquarters,  and  holds 
an  annual  or  biennial  convention.  The  officers  submit  quarterly 
reports  to  the  Federation,  and  participate  in  regular  meetings  of 
the  latter's  Executive  Council.  (See  DEPARTMENT  COUNCILS.) 

Dependent  Unionism.  A  term  sometimes  used  in  designa- 
tion of  a  functional  type  of  labor  organization  whose  existence 
depends  wholly  or  in  large  part  on  some  force  outside  the  particular 
organization.  Certain  LABEL  UNIONS  and  practically  all  COMPANY 
UNIONS  are  of  this  type. 

Deputies.  In  the  American  labor  movement  (i)  national 
trade  union  officials  whose  duties  are  described  in  the  entry,  DEPUTY 
SYSTEM.  Also  (2)  under  certain  TRADE  AGREEMENTS,  particularly 
those  in  the  garment  industries,  local  trade  union  and  employers' 
officials  who  have  direct  charge  of  the  execution  of  the  provisions  of 
the  agreement  in  the  interest  of  their  respective  principals.  The 
deputies  of  each  side  in  a  particular  factory  are  usually  subject  to 
the  authority  of  an  officer  known  as  the  chief  deputy.  (3)  In  the 
British  coal-mining  industry,  company  officials  who  occupy  a  posi- 
tion generally  corresponding  to  that  of  a  foreman  in  a  factory. 

Deputy  Clerks.     See  PROTOCOL. 

Deputy  System.  Many  of  the  larger  American  national  or 
international  unions  maintain  permanently,  or  employ  from  time  to 
time  as  they  are  needed,  special  deputies  who  carry  on  the  field  work 
of  the  national  organization,  visiting  the  local  branches  from  time 
to  time  and  performing  various  specialized  duties  which  would  other- 
wise fall  to  the  lot  of  the  president  and  vice-presidents  of  the  central 

[128] 


office.  This  is  commonly  known  as  the  "deputy  system."  (See 
ORGANIZER;  STRIKE  DEPUTY;  SPECIAL  DEFENSE  ORGANIZERS; 
FINANCIER;  LABEL  AGITATOR.) 

Despatching.    See  ROUTING. 

Detective  Agencies.    See  LABOR  DETECTIVE  AGENCIES. 

Detroit  I.  W.  W.  See  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD; 
WORKERS'  INTERNATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  UNION. 

Deutscher  Gewerkschaftsbund  in  der  Tschechoslowaki- 
schen  Republik  (Federation  of  German  Trade  Unions  in  Czecho- 
slovakia). Organized  in  May,  1919,  on  an  industrial  basis.  In  the 
following  March  twenty-three  unions,  with  a  constituent  member- 
ship of  352,000,  were  affiliated  in  the  organization.  At  the  first 
Congress,  held  at  Teplitz  in  July,  1920,  a  membership  of  360,000  was 
reported.  Sixty  per  cent  of  the  members  are  affiliated  with  the 
German  Social  Democratic  Party  of  Czecho-Slovakia. 

Dictatorship  of  the  Proletariat.  In  the  Marxian  sense,  the 
temporary  taking  over  of  power  by  the  PROLETARIAT  majority  after 
the  fall  of  CAPITALISM,  and  the  conduct  of  governmental  affairs  by 
and  in  the  interests  of  the  working  class.  As  a  prominent  tenet  in 
the  creed  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM,  it  means  that  during  the  transition 
period  following  their  seizure  of  political  and  industrial  power,  the 
workers  will  exclude  from  any  share  in  the  government  all  non- 
producers,  giving  the  vote  only  to  those  who  perform  useful  social 
work.  The  right  of  free  speech,  assembly,  and  press  of  the  BOUR- 
GEOISIE must  also  be  suppressed,  according  to  this  doctrine,  on  the 
ground  that  otherwise  they  might  promote  counter-revolutionary 
movements.  When  the  task  of  socializing  industry  is  completed,  it 
is  argued,  all  able-bodied  persons  will  be  producers;  thus  there  will 
be  no  further  need  of  the  dictatorship,  and  the  government  will  be 
conducted  by  the  whole  people.  (See  BOLSHEVISM.) 

Differential  Piece  Rate  System.  A  method  of  PIECE  WORK 
wage  payment  devised  by  F.  W.  Taylor,  the  "father"  of  SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEMENT.  Under  this  system,  the  worker  "is  paid  a  low  rate  per 
piece  for  ordinary  production  and  a  considerably  higher  rate  for 
production  according  to  a  standard,  determined  by  careful  TIME 
STUDY,  and  made  possible  of  attainment  by  systematic  training 
of  the  workman  and  by  such  management  of  the  plant  as  facilitates 
to  the  utmost  the  operations  performed  by  the  laborer."  As  a  con- 
crete example,  let  us  say  that  the  standard  TASK  in  the  case  of  a 

[129] 


certain  kind  of  work  has  been  fixed  at  ten  pieces  per  day.  If  the 
worker's  output  reaches  or  exceeds  ten  pieces  he  is  paid  at  the  rate, 
say,  of  fifty  cents  per  piece,  whereas  if  he  turns  out  less  than  ten 
pieces  he  receives  only  thirty-five  cents  per  piece.  In  either  case 
the  piece  rate  is  definitely  fixed — one  rate  for  the  standard  task, 
another  rate  for  anything  less  than  the  standard  task.  This  plan 
is,  in  effect,  a  "scientific"  extension  of  the  BONUS  SYSTEM.  (See 
TASK  AND  BONUS  SYSTEM.) 

Dilutes,  Dilutees.  Unskilled  or  semi-skilled  workers  intro- 
duced among  skilled  workers,  under  the  plan  known  as  DILUTION 
OP  LABOR,  are  sometimes  called  "dilutes,"  the  skilled  workers  being 
known  as  "dilutees." 

Dilution  of  Labor.  In  an  industrial  sense,  the  introduction 
of  less-skilled  labor  on  work  .hitherto  done  by  labor  of  a  higher  class. 
Such  dilution  usually  takes  the  form,  not  so  much  of  the  direct  sub- 
stitution of  one  worker  for  another  on  an  identical  operation,  as  of 
the  introduction  of  simpler  or  more  specialized  machinery  operated 
by  a  less-skilled  type  of  workers.  Or  the  process  hitherto  performed 
by  one  skilled  worker  may  be  split  into  a  number  of  easy  operations 
capable  of  being  performed  by  several  unskilled  workers.  The  en- 
trance of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  women  and  GREEN  HANDS  into 
industry  during  the  recent  war  involved  "dilution"  on  a  vast  scale, 
and  made  necessary  the  suspension  or  abrogation  of  all  trade  union 
customs  and  restrictions  in  this  matter.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  TRUCE; 
DILUTES;  VESTIBULE  SCHOOLS;  SUBSTITUTION.) 

Dinner  Money.  In  the  WOR&ING  RULES  or  BY-LAWS  of  some 
British  trade  unions  it  is  stipulated  that  the  worker  assigned  to  a 
distant  job  shall  receive  an  extra  allowance  for  his  dinner  in  case  he 
has  received  no  notice  of  the  assignment  on  the  previous  day. 

Direct  Action.  Among  trade  unionists,  this  term  has  long 
been  synonymous  with  what  is  commonly  known  as  INDUSTRIAL 
ACTION — that  is  to  say,  any  aggressive  mass  effort  on  the  part  of 
organized  labor  directed  toward  a  purely  economic  end;  as  for  ex- 
ample, a  strike  or  boycott.  In  this  sense,  it  has  always  denoted  the 
opposite  of  POLITICAL  ACTION  or,  as  it  is  often  called,  INDIRECT 
ACTION.  While  the  favorite  weapon  of  radical  labor  bodies  every- 
where, its  application  differs  widely  in  different  countries.  With 
the  French  syndicalists,  direct  action  is  "at  once  a  great  educative 
influence  and  the  actual  irtethod  of  capitalist  expropriation.  It  has 
therefore  taken  on  an  almost  religious  aspect,  and  has  felt  the  need 

[130] 


of  providing  itself  with  a  theology.  The  dogma  of  the  GENERAL 
STRIKE  is  the  formulation  of  the  philosophy  of  direct  action  in  a  popu- 
lar and  compelling  manner."  During  the  past  few  years  the  term 
"direct  action"  has  been  more  frequently  applied  to  the  attempt  to 
secure,  by  organized  labor  action,  political  or  other  results  outside 
the  ordinary  aims  of  trade  unionism;  such  as  the  refusal  of  British 
seamen  in  1917-18  to  carry  labor  delegates  to  the  international 
Stockholm  conference  of  socialists,  or  the  strike  proposed  by  the 
British  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS  in  July,  1919,  to  force  a  discon- 
tinuance of  armed  intervention  in  Russia.  Still  another  use  of  the 
term  is  with  reference  to  such  a  step  on  the  part  of  a  local  trade 
union  as  the  calling  of  an  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE. 

Direct  Labor.    See  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT. 
Dirty  Mining.     See  DOCKAGE  SYSTEM. 
Dirty  Money.    See  BLACK  MONEY. 
Disability  Insurance.    See  SICKNESS  INSURANCE. 

Disability  or  Disablement  Benefits.  Payments  made  by  a 
trade  union,  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETY,  etc.,  or  the  State,  to  a  member 
incapacitated  for  work  by  any  bodily  or  mental  disability.  Such 
benefits  commonly  consist  of  weekly  payments  for  a  specified  period. 
They  include  both  sickness  and  accident  benefits;  but  owing  to  the 
existence  of  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  laws  in  nearly  all  large 
countries,  accident  benefits  are  now  of  comparatively  small  impor- 
tance. A  considerable  number  of  trade  unions  pay  a  lump  sum, 
equal  to  or  larger  than  the  DEATH  BENEFIT,  in  the  event  of  total  and 
permanent  disability.  Under  the  British  NATIONAL  INSURANCE 
ACT,  disablement  benefits  are  paid  to  insured  persons  who  are  ren- 
dered incapable  of  work  and  have  exhausted  their  twenty-six  weeks' 
sickness  benefits.  (See  MALINGERING.) 

Discharge  Book  System.  As  utilized  by  the  Lake  Carriers' 
Association,  an  organization  of  employing  vessel-owners  on  the  Great 
Lakes,  this  is  a  method  of  registration  for  employment  purposes. 
Each  sailor  or  seaman  is  given  a  "discharge  book,"  in  which  are 
noted  the  vessels  on  which  he  has  served,  the  capacity  or  rating  in 
which  he  served,  the  dates  of  his  employment  and  discharge,  and  a 
notation  as  to  the  character  of  his  service  made  by  the  officer  under 
whom  he  served.  In  seeking  a  new  position  the  holder  must  show 
this  book;  and  if  he  is  taken  on,  the  book  is  held  as  long  as  he  retains 
his  position.  It  is  a  common  complaint  of  the  men  that  the  "dis- 

[131] 


charge  book  system"  is  often  used  to  BLACKLIST  union  sailors  and 
others  considered  "undesirable"  by  the  vessel-owners. 

Discharge  of  Wage  Earners  in  Russia.  Under  the  Soviet 
labor  code,  after  a  person  has  been  appointed  to  a  permanent  position 
he  may  be  discharged  for  unfitness  only  with  the  consent  of  his 
trade  union.  Both  the  employer  and  the  employee  may  appeal 
the  matter  to  the  local  and  the  district  office  of  the  PEOPLE'S  COM- 
MISSARIAT OF  LABOR,  respectively.  The  decision  of  the  district 
office  is  final.  In  every  case  the  worker  is  entitled  to  two  weeks' 
notice  of  the  proposed  discharge.  On  the  other  hand,  the  worker  is 
not  at  liberty  to  quit  his  job  at  pleasure.  He  must  tender  his  resig- 
nation, which  must  be  passed  upon  by  the  WORKS  COMMITTEE  of 
his  factory.  If  the  works  committee,  after  a  hearing,  declines  to 
accept  the  resignation,  the  wage  earner  must  remain  at  work,  but  he 
may  appeal  to  his  trade  union,  whose  decision  is  final.  A  wage 
earner  who  disobeys  these  rules  is  barred  from  other  employment 
for  one  week  and  forfeits  his  unemployment  benefit  for  that  period. 
These  rules  do  not  apply,  however,  to  personal  service  and  to  tem- 
porary employment,  where  the  worker  is  at  liberty  to  quit  at  pleasure. 
(See  PROBATION  SYSTEM  IN  RUSSIAN  INDUSTRY.) 

Discipline.  In  the  labor  movement,  this  term  refers  to  the 
maintenance  of  order  and  the  observance  of  rules  and  regulations, 
as  well  as  to  the  judging  of  offenses  and  the  infliction  of  punishment 
— either  on  the  part  of  an  employer  in  relation  to  his  employees, 
or  on  the  part  of  a  trade  union  in  relation  to  its  individual  members 
or  its  subordinate  units.  Disciplinary  action  directed  by  a  national 
union  against  a  subordinate  union  usually  takes  the  form  of  a  fine, 
suspension,  or  expulsion.  In  relation  to  individual  unionists,  such 
action  is  nearly  always  a  prerogative  of  the  local  unions.  In  many  of 
the  national  organizations,  however,  criminal  codes  have  grown  up, 
and  in  some  of  them  the  number  of  offenses  specified  is  large.  No 
offense  appears  oftener  in  these  national  codes  than  UNDERMINING 
brother  members  in  prices  or  wages  or  conditions  of  work.  Several 
unions  forbid  taking  a  job  or  offering  to  take  it  for  less  than  it  has 
paid  before.  Going  to  work  where  a  strike  is  on  is  mentioned  rather 
less  often;  possibly  because  it  is  so  obvious  and  grievous  an  offense 
that  specific  mention  seems  even  less  necessary.  Revealing  the 
business  or  transactions  of  the  union  to  outsiders,  and  especially  to 
employers,  is  often  referred  to.  A  few  unions  lay  special  penalties 
on  revealing  the  name  of  a  member  who  has  opposed  the  admission 
of  a  candidate.  Disturbing  the  meetings  of  the  union  by  swearing, 


by  abusive  language,  by  refusing  to  obey  the  president,  or  by  appear- 
ing in  a  state  of  intoxication,  is  mentioned  in  perhaps  a  dozen  codes. 
Neglect  of  duty  by  an  officer  or  a  member  of  a  committee  is  often 
punishable  by  a  fine,  and  in  the  case  of  an  officer  by  forfeiture  of  his 
position.  Absence  of  an  officer  from  meetings  and  failure  to  have  at 
a  meeting  books  which  are  in  his  charge  are  often  specially  provided 
for.  Misapplication  of  funds  of  the  union,  or  any  sort  of  fraud 
against  the  union  or  its  members,  is  often  mentioned.  Penalties  are 
often  provided  for  advocating  dissolution  of  a  local  union,  or  division 
of  its  funds,  or  separation  of  it  from  the  national  union.  Slandering 
of  members,  creating  dissension  in  the  union,  and  working  against 
its  interest  and  harmony  are  other  specifications.  Unions  which 
have  labels  sometimes  mention  the  illegal  supplying  of  them.  Sev- 
eral unions  provide  certain  penalties,  often  expulsion,  for  one  who 
becomes  an  habitual  drunkard.  Finally,  one  finds  such  general 
phrases  as  "the  commission  of  any  act  which  tends  to  bring  the 
union  into  discredit."  Many  national  organizations  have  elaborate 
rules  for  the  bringing  of  charges  and  the  conduct  of  trials.  It  is  usually 
required,  when  definite  rules  are  formulated,  that  charges  be  brought 
in  writing,  and  that  if  the  local  union  thinks  them  worthy  of  attention 
a  copy  of  them  be  served  upon  the  accused,  or  he  be  given  due  notice 
of  them,  together  with  a  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  trial.  The 
trial  is  in  some  unions  before  the  local  executive  board,  but  usually 
before  a  special  committee.  The  committee  is  selected  in  most  cases 
directly  by  vote  of  the  local.  In  practically  all  organizations  the 
trial  board  or  committee  submits  its  findings  to  the  local,  with  an 
abstract  of  the  evidence ;  and  guilt  or  innocence,  as  well  as  the  penalty 
to  be  inflicted,  are  determined  by  vote  of  the  local.  Sometimes  a 
two-thirds  vote  is  necessary  for  the  infliction  of  a  penalty.  The 
penalties  customarily  inflicted  by  labor  organizations  are  reprimand, 
fine,  suspension,  and  expulsion.  Sometimes  a  distinction  is  drawn 
between  private  reprimand  and  public  reprimand,  and  between 
indefinite  suspension  and  suspension  for  a  definite  period.  Far  the 
commonest  penalty  is  a  fine;  this  has  the  obvious  advantage  of  re- 
plenishing the  funds  of  the  union  at  the  same  time  that  it  punishes 
the  delinquent.  In  all  national  organizations  an  appeal  lies  from  any 
penal  judgment  of  a  local  to  some  higher  authority  representing  the 
national  union.  This  authority  is,  in  general,  either  the  president 
or  the  NATIONAL  EXECUTIVE  BOARD.  Many  organizations  make 
special  provision  for  charges  against  national  officers.  Sometimes 
such  charges  can  be  brought  only  by  vote  of  a  local  union.  The  truth 
of  them  must  in  many  organizations  be  sustained  by  affidavit.  They 
10  [  i33  ] 


are  usually  tried  before  the  general  executive  board,  but  sometimes 
before  a  special  committee.  (See  FINANCES  OF  TRADE  UNIONS; 
BROWN  SYSTEM;  SPONTANEOUS  STRIKE;  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE.) 

Discipline  by  Record.    See  BROWN  SYSTEM. 
Discipline  Strike.     See  SPONTANEOUS  STRIKE. 
Discipline  without  Suspension.    See  BROWN  SYSTEM. 

Discount  Societies.  As  representative  of  a  limited  form  of 
CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION,  these  are  associations  of  consumers  which 
do  not  sell  on  their  own  account  but  obtain  reductions  in  price  from 
wholesalers  and  others  in  consideration  of  the  joint  and  regular 
patronage  of  their  members.  This  plan  is  often  adopted  by  MUTUAL 
AID  SOCIETIES  and  farmers'  organizations  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

Discrimination.  In  connection  with  the  labor  movement, 
this  term  is  most  commonly  used  in  designation  of  the  bias  or  unfav- 
orable distinction,  on  the  part  of  an  employer  or  organized  group 
of  employers,  against  a  worker  or  an  organized  group  of  workers. 
According  to  the  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUS- 
TRIAL RELATIONS,  the  most  important  device  used  by  "hostile" 
EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATIONS,  in  resisting  union  attempts  to  replace 

INDIVIDUAL  BARGAINING  by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  is  discrimina- 
tion against  members  of  the  union.  "Many  of  the  associations  have 
in  their  '  declarations  of  principles '  the  statement  that  no  discrimina- 
tion will  be  made  against  any  man  because  of  his  membership  in  any 
organization,  but  this  rule  is  not  enforced.  Ordinarily  members  of 
the  union  are  not  discriminated  against,  but  if  the  number  of  union- 
ists increases  in  any  shop  until  it  becomes  large,  the  employer  is 
advised  or  decides  on  his  own  volition  to  hire  no  more  members  of 
the  union.  Moreover,  any  workman  who  is  prominent  in  urging  the 
others  to  form  a  union  is  likely  to  be  dismissed.  The  aim  of  the 
association  is  to  prevent  in  ordinary  times  such  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  unionists  as  will  lead  to  a  collective  demand.  The  proposi- 
tion is  effective  against  collective  action,  as  membership  of  an  in- 
dividual workman  in  a  union  constitutes  no  menace  to  the  employer's 
power  to  control  his  business  unless  the  individual  can  persuade 
others  to  act  with  him." 

Dismissal  Wage.  In  view  of  the  economic  distress  often 
caused  to  the  workman  and  his  family  when  he  is  suddenly  thrown 
out  of  a  job,  it  has  been  proposed  that  the  employer  should  be  re- 
quired to  continue  the  payment  of  wages  for  a  certain  period  (usually 

[134] 


two  weeks)  after  an  employee  is  discharged,  such  payment  being 
known  as  a  "dismissal  wage."  This  plan  would  give  the  worker 
his  customary  earnings  while  he  was  seeking  a  new  job,  and  would 
reduce  the  temptation  on  the  employer's  part  to  discharge  workers 
for  trivial  or  unsound  reasons. 

Dispute.     See  STRIKE. 

Dispute  Benefits.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 

Dispute  Pay.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 

Distribution  of  Labor  in  Russia.  Under  the  Soviet  labor 
code,  the  enforcement  of  the  RIGHT  TO  WORK,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  compulsory  assignment  of  wage-earners  to  work,  on  the  other, 
are  secured  through  the  Labor  Distribution  Department  of  the 
PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT  OF  LABOR.  Through  its  local  and  district 
sections  the  Department  keeps  a  register  of  all  unemployed  workers, 
and  these  latter  are  assigned  according  to  the  needs  of  particular 
establishments  and  individuals.  An  unemployed  worker  has  no 
right  to  refuse  an  offer  to  work  at  his  vocation,  provided  the  working 
conditions  conform  with  the  standards  fixed  by  the  government  and 
the  trade  unions. 

Distributive  Cooperation.     See  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION. 
Distributive  Societies.     See  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION. 
District  By -Laws.     See  BY-LAWS. 
District  Committee.     See  DISTRICT  COUNCIL. 

District  Council,  (i)  In  the  United  States,  when  several 
LOCALS  belonging  to  the  same  national  union  exist  in  a  place,  they 
are  often  united  in  a  district  council.  The  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters 
and  the  Painters  require  a  district  council  to  be  established  wherever 
there  are  two  local  unions.  The  powers  of  the  district  councils 
vary  greatly  in  the  different  organizations.  In  the  Brotherhood  of 
Carpenters  their  powers  are  considerable;  they  not  only  frame  and 
enforce  WORKING  RULES  for  their  districts,  but  they  adopt  BY-LAWS 
and  rules  covering  STRIKE  PAY  and  other  BENEFITS  to  be  paid  by  the 
locals  under  their  jurisdiction.  District  councils  are  always  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  local  unions.  In  some  organizations  their 
more  important  decisions  are  submitted  to  the  locals  for  confirma- 
tion. (2)  In  certain  British  national  unions,  particularly  the  large 
federated  or  amalgamated  organizations,  the  district  council  (or,  as 


it  is  called  in  some  unions,  the  district  committee)  is  a  delegate  body 
representative  of  all  the  BRANCHES  of  the  national  society  in  a 
single  large  industrial  centre  or  locality.  As  in  the  case  of  their 
American  counterparts,  the  powers  of  the  British  district  councils 
vary  greatly  in  different  unions.  In  the  Amalgamated  Society  of 
Engineers  the  district  committee  enjoys  almost  complete  autonomy 
in  the  formation  of  local  industrial  policy,  subject  to  two  conditions : 
(i)  That  any  action  which  involves  expenditure  from  the  central 
fund  must  receive  the  sanction  of  the  CENTRAL  EXECUTIVE,  and  (2) 
that  the  organization  of  friendly  benefits  is  a  matter  entrusted 
exclusively  to  the  individual  branches.  In  the  National  Union  of 
Railwaymen,  on  the  other  hand,  the  district  councils  have  no  execu- 
tive powers,  and  exist  merely  for  propagandist  and  consultative 
purposes.  (See  DISTRICT  UNION;  JOINT  COUNCIL;  BRITISH  TRADE 
UNION  ORGANIZATION;  MULTIPLE-BRANCH  UNION.) 

District  Delegates.  In  the  British  trade  union  movement, 
these  are  agents  of  the  national  unions,  elected  for  every  important 
district,  who  "devote  themselves  to  organizing  work,  COLLECTIVE 
BARGAINING,  etc.  In  some  of  the  larger  unions,  the  district  delegates 
form  a  virtual  cabinet  to  the  GENERAL  SECRETARY,  "alternately 
serving  as  councillors  on  high  issues  of  policy  and  as  ministers  carry- 
ing out  in  their  own  spheres  that  which  they  have  in  council  decided." 
(See  BRITISH  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZATION.) 

District  Industrial  Councils.  As  formulated  in  the  WHITLEY 
PLAN,  a  district  industrial  council  is  a  voluntary  body  representative 
of  trade  unions  and  employers'  associations  in  a  particular  industry 
for  a  particular  district  or  area.  It  is  closely  correlated  with  the 
various  WORKS  COMMITTEES  in  the  same  industry  and  area,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  with  the  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  for  the  same 
industry,  on  the  other.  Where  a  national  council  for  an  industry 
has  not  been  formed,  the  district  councils  perform  the  functions  of 
the  national  council.  They  deal  with  matters  of  general  significance 
to  the  industry  and  district,  particularly  rates  of  wages  and  hours  of 
work. 

District  Union.  In  some  American  national  or  international 
unions,  this  is  a  form  of  organization  which  usually  occupies  an 
intermediate  position  between  the  LOCAL  and  the  central  national 
body.  The  district  covered  is  often  an  area  within  which  productive 
or  competitive  conditions  are  essentially  similar.  Often  it  is  roughly 
coterminous  with  the  boundaries  of  a  state.  In  a  number  of  unions 

[136] 


the  New  England  states  constitute  a  single  district.  The  Interna- 
tional Seamen's  Union  follows  the  coast  lines  and  inland  waters  in 
marking  off  its  districts.  The  district  unions  of  coal  miners  embrace 
all  miners  in  the  same  coal  field  or  in  a  group  of  coal  fields  having  com- 
mon shipping  points.  Sometimes  they  are  further  subdivided  into  dis- 
tricts which  embrace  the  miners  working  in  one  section  of  a  large 
coal  field  or  in  a  group  of  mines  under  the  same  management.  Among 
railway  workers  the  district  union  (or  DIVISION,  as  it  is  called)  is 
generally  coterminous  with  a  single  railway  system.  In  most  unions 
the  primary  purpose  of  the  district  organization  is  to  render  conditions 
of  employment  uniform  throughout  the  area  over  which  the  district 
union  has  jurisdiction.  Another  purpose  is  to  unite  all  those  local 
unions  of  a  single  craft  or  industry  which  will  be  affected  by  a  strike 
occurring  in  any  part  of  the  district.  In  some  cases  the  district 
union  negotiates  a  uniform  wage  scale  for  the  district  as  a  whole, 
carries  on  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  in  regard  to  hours  and  working 
conditions,  and  exercises  all  control  of  strikes  within  the  district. 
Most  district  unions  are  governed  by  a  delegate  body  known  as  the 
DISTRICT  COUNCIL,  made  up  of  representatives  from  the  various  locals 
within  the  district,  and  by  permanent  officers  chosen  by  that  body 
— including  sometimes  a  BUSINESS  AGENT.  Frequently,  also,  there 
is  an  executive  board,  which  transacts  emergency  business  between 
the  meetings  of  the  district  council.  The  relative  power  and  authority 
of  the  district  union  vary  widely  in  different  national  organizations. 
Sometimes  it  is  the  most  important  unit  of  the  entire  organization 
— as  with  the  coal  miners,  whose  district  unions  preceded  the  national 
union;  or  with  the  machine  textile  workers,  who  have  no  locals; 
or  with  the  seamen,  whose  locals  are  little  more  than  convenient 
"ports  of  call "  for  visiting  members.  Sometimes  it  is  merely  a  useful 
agent  for  the  transaction  of  routine  administrative  duties.  (See 
JOINT  COUNCIL.) 

Divided  Foremanship.    See  FUNCTIONAL  FOREMANSHIP. 

Division,  (i)  In  some  of  the  American  RAILWAY  BROTHER- 
HOODS, the  central  national  body  is  called  the  "grand  division" 
or  "grand  international  division,"  while  the  minor  bodies  or  units 
are  known  as  "divisions,"  "sub-divisions,"  or  "subordinate  divi- 
sions." These  latter  commonly  differ  from  the  LOCALS  in  other  na- 
tional unions  in  that  they  are  organized  not  on  the  basis  of  locality 
but  according  to  units  of  individual  railway  systems.  (2)  The  five 
jurisdictional  units  of  the  RAILWAY  EMPLOYEES'  DEPARTMENT  of  the 

[1373 


AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  are  called  "divisions."    (See  DIS- 
TRICT UNION.) 

Division  of  Labor.  This  term  is  commonly  used  in  two 
different  senses,  as  follows:  (i)  With  reference  to  industry  as  a  whole, 
it  denotes  the  separation  of  occupations,  each  worker  specializing 
,  in  a  particular  trade  or  craft  instead  of  following  several  in  combina- 
j  tion.  Division  of  labor  in  this  sense  was  the  main  characteristic  of 
the  HANDICRAFT  SYSTEM,  as  distinguished  from  the  HOUSEHOLD 
SYSTEM,  in  INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION.  (2)  With  reference  to  a  single 
craft  or  industrial  process,  it  denotes  the  separation  of  such  craft 
or  process  into  a  number  of  component  operations,  each  worker 
being  confined  wholly  or  mainly  to  a  single  operation.  The  division 
of  labor,  in  either  of  the  above  senses,  is  often  referred  to  as  "sub- 
division of  labor."  (See  SPECIALIZATION;  TERRITORIAL  DIVISION  OF 
LABOR.) 

Dock  Wollopers.  Casual  workers  among  the  LONGSHOREMEN 
are  thus  nicknamed. 

Dockage  or  Docking  System.  In  connection  with  CONTRACT 
MINING,  particularly  in  the  anthracite  region,  it  is  customary  for  a 
company  official  known  as  a  "docking  boss"  to  inspect  the  cars  of 
coal  brought  out  of  the  mines  and  make  deductions  from  the  miner's 
pay  for  slate  and  other  impurities  found  in  the  coal  or  for  cars  not 
fully  loaded.  These  deductions  or  "docks"  are  partly  in  the  nature 
of  fines,  intended  to  discourage  what  is  called  "dirty  mining "  and  the 
underloading  of  mine  cars.  Owing  to  the  alleged  abuses  suffered  by 
the  miners  under  this  system,  there  is  now  in  most  anthracite  col- 
lieries a  miners'  representative,  called  the  "check-docking  boss," 
whose  function  it  is  to  see  that  the  miners  are 'not  unjustly  docked. 

Dockers.  Unskilled  workers  employed  in  the  loading  and 
unloading  of  vessels  are  usually  so  called  in  England.  (See  LIVER- 
POOL DOCK  SCHEME;  LONDON  DOCK  SCHEME;  STRAPPERS;  DOCKERS' 
TANNER.) 

Dockers'  Tanner.  A  phrase  that  came  into  popular  use  during 
the  great  London  dock  strike  of  1889,  when  ten  thousand  casual 
dock  laborers  struck  for  wages  of  sixpence  (commonly  nicknamed 
a  "tanner"  in  England)  an  hour,  held  up  the  Port  of  London  for 
ten  weeks,  and  finally  won  their  claim.-  ' 

Docking.  The  practice  of  making  deductions  from  a  worker's 
pay,  because  of  faulty  output  or  for  various  other  reasons.  The 

[138] 


word  derives  from  the  old  English  docken  or  dokken,  meaning  to 
curtail  or  cut  short.     (See  DOCKAGE  SYSTEM;  WAGE  DEDUCTIONS.) 

Docking  Boss.     See  DOCKAGE  SYSTEM. 

Doctrinaire.  One  who  holds  an  abstract  theory  or  belief, 
and  insists  on  its  applicability  under  all  conditions,  without 
regard  to  facts  or  circumstances.  The  term  is  often  applied,  in  a 
loose  way,  to  socialists  and  others  who  hold  views  that  are  still  for 
the  most  part  untested  by  practice. 

Document.  During  a  widespread  British  labor  dispute  in 
1833,  the  employers  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester  publicly  announced 
that  henceforth  no  man  need  apply  for  work  unless  he  was  prepared 
to  sign  a  formal  renunciation  of  trade  union  allegiance.  This  was 
known  as  "the  presentation  of  the  document,"  or  more  briefly 
"the  document,"  and  it  became  a  favorite  weapon  of  employers  in 
fighting  the  unions.  It  was  revived  in  1913  in  the  Irish  transport 
industry,  and  a  few  months  thereafter  in  the  British  building  trades. 
(See  IRONCLAD  AGREEMENT.) 

Domestic  Service.  A  general  designation  for  those  forms  of 
labor  that  are  performed  by  paid  employees  (usually  women)  in  the 
home.  Originally  domestic  service  was  synonymous  with  so-called 
"menial  labor" — the  word  "menial"  being  derived  from  an  old 
root  signifying  "household"  or  "pertaining  to  a  household";  but 
in  common  usage  today  "menial"  carries  a  suggestion  of  extreme 
social  inferiority  which  does  not  necessarily  attach  to  "domestic 
service."  The  organization  of  domestic  servants  in  trade  unions 
has  as  yet  made  only  very  slight  progress  in  any  country.  In  at 
least  one  country  (Germany)  they  have  until  lately  been  legally 
prevented  from  organizing.  Various  efforts  have,  however,  been 
made  to  raise  the  status  and  conditions  of  domestic  service  to  some- 
thing like  the  average  level  in  other  forms  of  industry;  and  in  Eng- 
land particularly  these  efforts  have  of  late  been  not  wholly  unsuc- 
cessful. The  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL 
RELATIONS  contains  the  following  statement  on  this  general  subject: 
"We  find  that  practically  nothing  has  been  done  toward  the  very 
necessary  development  of  organizations  of  women  engaged  in  domes- 
tic service,  and  that  no  standards  governing  the  toil  of  the  thousands 
thus  engaged  have  been  established.  As  a  necessary  step  in  this 
direction,  we  recommend  that  the  hours  of  such  workers  should  be 
limited  to  eight  per  day;  and  that  no  such  persons  be  permitted  to 
work  over  six  days  in  each  week;  that  a  MINIMUM  WAGE  be  fixed 


for  this  class  of  employees  which  will  insure  them  a  comfortable 
life  without  being  required  to  live  in  the  homes  of  persons  employing 
them,  where  they  may  be  subjected  to  objectionable  or  uncomfort- 
able living  conditions.  That  all  of  the  improvements  and  safeguards 
recommended  for  adoption  in  this  report,  as  applying  to  women  in 
other  lines  of  industry,  shall  apply  with  equal  force  and  effect  to 
women  engaged  in  domestic  service."  (See  HOUSEHOLD  ASSISTANT 
SYSTEM;  LIVING- IN  SYSTEM.) 

Domestic  System.  The  third  stage  in  modern  INDUSTRIAL 
EVOLUTION,  following  the  HANDICRAFT  SYSTEM  and  preceding  the 
FACTORY  SYSTEM,  is  commonly  so  called.  This  stage,  according  to 
W.  J.  Ashley,  "is  marked  by  the  advent  of  various  kinds  of  commercial 
middlemen,  who  act  as  intermediaries  between  the  actual  makers  in 
their  small  domestic  workshops  and  the  final  purchasers,  the  widen- 
ing of  the  market  being  both  the  cause  and  the  result  of  their  appear- 
ance." The  present-day  counterpart  of  the  domestic  system  is  to 
be  found  in  certain  forms  of  the  SWEATING  SYSTEM.  (See  TOWN 
ECONOMY.) 

Dominican  Federation  of  Labor.  The  leading  labor  organi- 
zation of  Santo  Domingo.  It  was  formed  in  1915,  and  consists  of 
directly  affiliated  local  CRAFT  UNIONS  and  CENTRAL  BODIES,  with  a 
constituent  membership  early  in  1920  of  about  2700  workers. 

Dominion  Trades  and  Labor  Congress.  See  CANADIAN 
LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Donation.     See  BENEFITS;  OUT-OF-WORK  BENEFITS. 

Double  Rate.     See  TIME  AND  A  HALF. 

Double -Standard  Basis.     See  SCREENING  SYSTEM. 

Double  Time.     See  TIME  AND  A  HALF. 

Double  Turn.     See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Dovetailing  of  Seasonal  Trades.  As  a  remedy  for  UNEM- 
PLOYMENT, this  is  the  method  of  so  regulating  conditions  in  SEASONAL 
OCCUPATIONS  that  workers  may  pass  from  one  to  another  of  such 
occupations  without  any  intervening  period  of  idleness.  (See  LABOR 
OUTINGS.) 

Down -and -Outs.     See  UNEMPLOYABLES. 

Down  Tools.  In  the  British  labor  world,  to  "down  tools" 
is  to  institute  a  strike.  (See  TURNOUT.) 

[  140] 


Driving.    See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Dual  State.  The  form  of  governmental  organization  proposed 
by  advocates  of  GUILD  SOCIALISM  is  often  so  called.  According 
to  their  theory,  as  stated  by  Bertrand  Russell,  "there  should  be 
two  co-equal  instruments  of  government  in  a  community,  the  one 
geographical,  representing  the  consumers,  and  essentially  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  democratic  State;  the  other  representing  the  pro- 
ducers, organized,  not  geographically,  but  in  guilds,  after  the  manner 
of  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM.  These  two  authorities  will  deal  with 
different  classes  of  questions.  Guild  socialists  do  not  regard  the 
industrial  authority  as  forming  part  of  the  State,  for  they  contend 
that  it  is  the  essence  of  the  State  to  be  geographical;  but  the  indus- 
trial authority  will  resemble  the  present  State  in  the  fact  that  it 
will  have  coercive  powers,  and  that  its  decrees  will  be  enforced, 
when  necessary. ' '  This  plan  of  two  co-equal  centres  of  authority,  one 
representative  of  geographical  and  the  other  of  industrial  interests, 
results  in  what  is  called  the  "dual  State." 

Dual  Union.  A  labor  organization  which  openly  and  actively 
competes  with  another  for  jurisdiction  over  the  workers  of  a  par- 
ticular craft,  trade,  or  industry — local,  district,  or  national.  Usually 
the  term  is  applied  only  to  a  union  formed  as  the  result  of  a  SECES- 
SION movement  from  an  older  organization — generally  on  the  work- 
ers' own  initiative,  but  sometimes  by  the  inspiration  and  encourage- 
ment of  employers;  the  "dual  union"  being  considered  an  unauthor- 
ized rival  to  the  "regular"  union  in  the  same  field. 

Dual  Unionism  or  Dual  Organization.  As  most  commonly 
used,  these  terms  refer  to  the  method  or  tactics  of  furthering  revo- 
lutionary working-class  aims  by  separately  organizing  the  more 
radical  workers,  in  direct  competition  with  the  conservative  trade 
unions,  and  endeavoring  to  influence  the  policy  of  the  latter  from  the 
outside,  by  force  of  organized  rivalry.  This  method  is  known  in 
France  as  la  pression  exttrieure,  and  in  the  I.  W.  W.  as  "hammering 
from  without."  The  opposite  method  or  policy  is  known  in  France 
as  la  penetration,  and  in  this  country  as  BORING  FROM  WITHIN. 

Due  Card  or  Due  Book.  In  most  trade  unions  each  member 
is  provided  with  a  card  or  book  containing  written  entry  or  stamps 
in  record  of  all  dues  and  assessments  paid  by  the  member  to  his  local 
union.  This  card  or  book  is  his  evidence  of  union  membership  "in 
good  standing."  In  some  unions  the  due  card  or  due  book  serves  as 
a  WORKING  CARD;  other  unions  issue  separate  due  cards  and  working 
cards.  (See  COMBINATION  CARD.) 

[141] 


Duplex  Printing  Press  Case.  Because  of  its  failure  to  recog- 
nize the  union  and  to  observe  union  conditions,  a  strike  was  declared 
against  the  Duplex  Printing  Press  Company  of  Battle  Creek,  Mich., 
by  the  International  Association  of  Machinists.  In  aid  of  that  strike 
the  Association  instructed  its  members  not  to  work  on  the  installa- 
tion of  presses  which  the  Duplex  Company  had  delivered  to  printing 
concerns  in  New  York  City.  This  was  termed  by  the  Association  a 
SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE;  but  it  was  construed  by  the  courts  as  a  second- 
ary BOYCOTT,  being  directed  against  the  purchasers  of  the  presses 
rather  than  the  manufacturers,  and  an  INJUNCTION  was  granted 
restraining  the  officials  of  the  machinists'  union  in  New  York  from 
inducing  their  members  not  to  work  for  the  company  or  for  its  cus- 
tomers in  connection  with  the  installation  of  its  presses.  The  case 
was  carried  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  which  handed  down 
a  decision  early  in  January,  1921,  upholding  the  injunction  and 
declaring  the  "secondary  boycott"  illegal.  In  practical  effect,  this 
decision  largely  nullifies  what  was  considered  by  organized  labor  as 
one  of  the  main  effects  and  purposes  of  the  labor  clauses  of  the 
CLAYTON  ACT. 

Dutch  Labor  Organizations.  The  wage-earners  of  Holland 
are  at  present  organized  in  five  national  federations,  as  follows:  (i) 
The  Nederlandsch  Verbond  van  Vakvereenigingen  (Dutch  Federa- 
tion of  Trade  Unions),  representing  the  conservative  (Social  Demo- 
cratic) elements,  with  a  membership  of  247,870  in  January,  1920; 
(2)  the  Christelyk  National  Vakverbond  (Christian  National  Fed- 
eration), organized  under  the  guidance  of  the  Protestant  Churches, 
with  70,000  members;  (3)  the  Bureau  war  de  Roomsche  Katholicke 
.Vakorgenisatie  (Bureau  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Organizations), 
founded  under  the  auspices  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  combat  socialist 
doctrines,  with  150,000  members;  (4)  the  Nederlandsch  Verbond 
voor  Neutrale  Vakvereenigingen  (Dutch  Federation  of  Neutral 
Trade  Unions),  founded  in  1919  as  a  non-political  means  of  harmo- 
nizing industrial  relations,  with  50,000  members;  and  (5)  the  Neder- 
landsch Arbeids  Secretariat  (Dutch  Labor  Secretariat),  representing 
the  syndicalist  elements,  with  45,000  members  in  1919.  Probably 
in  no  other  country  is  the  labor  movement-  so  weakened  by  political 
and  religious  differences.  (See  KAMERS  VAN  ARBEID.) 


E 


Ecoles  Nationales  Professionals.  French  national  voca- 
tional schools,  conducted  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Ministry  of 
Commerce  and  Industry.  The  purposes  of  these  institutions,  of 
which  four  now  exist,  are:  (i)  To  furnish  the  industries,  particularly 
the  mechanical  industries,  with  persons  trained  in  trade  practice 
and  capable  of  becoming  foremen,  heads  of  workshops,  and  possibly 
factory  superintendents;  and  (2)  to  prepare  students  for  higher 
technical  schools. 

Economic  Action.  In  general  this  term  is  applied  to  action 
of  any  sort  by  organized  labor  in  the  economic  field,  as  opposed  to 
POLITICAL  ACTION.  The  term  is  of  a  little  broader  significance  than 
INDUSTRIAL  ACTION  in  that  it  may  include  such  measures  as  TRADE 

UNION    COOPERATION. 

Economic  Cycle.    See  INDUSTRIAL  CYCLE. 

Economic  Determinism  or  Materialistic  Conception  of 
History.  A  philosophy  of  history  as  well  as  an  economic  theory, 
first  enunciated  by  Karl  Marx  (1818-1883)  and  still  adhered  to  by 
the  orthodox  exponents  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM.  It  asserts  that  the 
economic  factor  is  the  determining  element  in  social  evolution — 
that  the  economic  structure  of  society,  i.  e.,  its  methods  of  bread-and- 
butter-getting,  supplies  the  basis  upon  which  is  erected  its  legal, 
political,  and  social  super-structure.  It  does  not  contend  "that 
all  history  can  be  explained  in  economic  terms  alone,  but  that  the 
chief  considerations  in  human  progress  are  the  social  considerations, 
and  that  the  important  factor  in  social  change  is  the  economic 
factor." 

Economic  Socialism.    See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM. 

Economic  Strike.  In  general,  one  that  has  to  do  solely  with 
the  relations  between  employers  and  employees,  in  regard  to  terms 
and  conditions  of  employment;  as  distinguished  from  a  POLITICAL 

[143] 


STRIKE,  or  one  instituted  for  non-economic  ends.  The  commonest 
causes  of  economic  strikes  may  be  classified  as  follows:  (i)  For 
increase  of  wages;  (2)  against  reduction  of  wages;  (3)  for  reduction 
of  hours;  (4)  against  increase  of  hours;  (5)  concerning  RECOGNITION 
of  union  and  union  rules ;  (6)  concerning  employment  of  certain  per- 
sons; (7)  concerning  employees  working  out  of  regular  occupation; 
(8)  concerning  OVERTIME  work  and  pay;  (9)  concerning  method  and 
time  of  payment;  (10)  concerning  Saturday  part  holiday;  (n)  con- 
cerning DOCKING,  fines,  and  charges;  (12)  concerning  WORKING 
CONDITIONS  and  rules.  (See  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE.) 

Economic  Worth.    See  PRODUCTIVITY  THEORY  OF  WAGES. 

Education.  See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION;  INDUSTRIAL 
EDUCATION;  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION. 

Efficiency  Engineer.    See  PRODUCTION  MANAGER. 
Efficiency  Engineering.    See  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT. 
Efficiency  Men.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

Efficiency  Payments.  Bonuses  and  premiums  paid  to  work- 
ers who  achieve  or  exceed  a  specified  standard  rate  of  production  are 
often  so  called.  Efficiency  payments  are  a  basic  part  of  any  scheme 
Of  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT.  (See  BONUS  SYSTEM;  PREMIUM  BONUS 
SYSTEM;  TASK  WORK;  REWARD  SYSTEMS.) 

Efficiency  Systems.    See  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT. 
Eight -Hour  Commission.     See  ADAMSON  LAW. 

Eight -Hour  Day.  This  term  may  denote  any  one  of  three 
wholly  different  things,  as  follows:  (i)  A  working  day  actually 
limited  to  eight  hours,  known  as  the  "straight"  or  "clean"  eight- 
hour  day;  (2)  an  eight-hour  shift,  with  three  work  periods  daily, 
limited  to  eight  hours  each,  for  as  many  different  sets  of  workers; 
or  (3)  the  "basic"  eight-hour  day,  which  does  not  limit  the  hours  of 
labor  but  merely  gives  the  worker  the  same  pay  for  eight  hours  that 
he  previously  received  for  nine  or  ten,  with  OVERTIME  pay  for  the 
time  worked  beyond  eight  hours.  There  can  be  no  intelligent  dis- 
cussion of  the  eight-hour  day  without  a  clear  understanding  and  a 
distinct  differentiation  of  these  three  forms.  In  general,  what  is 
known  as  the  "eight-hour  movement"  has  reference  to  a  working 
day  actually  limited  to  eight  hours.  Those  who  support  this  move- 
ment are  merely  endeavoring  to  restore  a  condition  that  existed  in 

[144] 


the  isth  and  i6th  centuries — as  Thorold  Rogers  and  other  labor 
historians  have  clearly  shown.  In  the  i;th  century  working  hours 
began  to  lengthen,  until  a  working  day  of  fifteen  hours,  even  for 
children,  became  by  no  means  uncommon.  The  gradual  ameliora- 
tion of  such  inhuman  conditions  is  due  almost  wholly  to  working- 
class  organization.  By  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  eight-hour 
day  had  become  a  practically  universal  ideal  of  organized  labor. 
In  America,  particularly,  it  was  long  the  central  point  in  the  entire 
labor  programme  and  philosophy.  Now  it  is  largely  a  commonplace 
of  industrial  reform,  and  is  generally  regarded  as  no  less  desirable 
and  beneficial  to  the  employer  than  to  the  worker.  The  principle 
of  the  eight-hour  day  and  the  FORTY-EIGHT  HOUR  WEEK  had  been 
officially  sanctioned  by  twenty-one  countries  before  the  first  GENERAL 
LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS  included  the 
principle  in  its  draft  conventions.  In  the  United  States,  the  Federal 
government  and  more  than  half  of  the  state  governments  have  adopted 
eight-hour  laws  for  employees  engaged,  either  directly  or  by  contract, 
on  public  works.  In  addition,  a  large  number  of  cities  have  similar 
provisions  in  regard  to  municipal  work.  The  ADAMSON  LAW  of  1916 
established  the  basic  eight-hour  day  for  all  railway  employees  en- 
gaged in  interstate  commerce.  (See  STEWARD'S  THEORY  OF  WAGES; 
SHORT-HOUR  MOVEMENT;  HOUR  LAWS;  THREE  EIGHTS;  SIX-HOUR 
DAY;  FORTY-HOUR  WEEK;  FORTY-FOUR  HOUR  WEEK;  WORKING 
HOURS  IN  RUSSIA;  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  IN  FRANCE;  WORKING  HOURS 
IN  GERMANY.) 

Eight -Hour  Day  in  France.  A  national  eight-hour  law  was 
passed  by  the  French  government  on  April  23,  1919.  This  is  a  gen- 
eral law  designed  to  be  put  into  effect  by  each  industry  through  execu- 
tive order.  The  distribution  of  hours  within  the  week  or  period, 
temporary  and  permanent  exceptions,  and  REST  PERIODS  are  deter- 
mined by  the  executive  order  for  each  trade  or  locality.  Consulta- 
tion with  employers  and  workers  is  required  in  advance  of  promul- 
gation of  orders  and  decrees. 

Eight -Hour  Movement.  See  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  ;  SHORT-HOUR 
MOVEMENT. 

Elective  Compensation  Acts.  See  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSA- 
TION. 

Emergency  Fund.    See  STRIKE  FUND. 

Emergency  Powers  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary  enactment 
of  October,  1920,  which  provides  that  exceptional  measures  shall 

[i4Sl 


be  taken  to  protect  the  public  in  case  any  action  is  taken  or  threat- 
ened by  any  person  or  body  of  persons  to  deprive  the  community  of 
the  essentials  of  life;  interference  with  the  supply  and  distribution 
of  food,  water,  fuel,  or  light,  or  with  the  means  of  locomotion,  to 
be  considered  such  an  emergency.  The  Act  was  put  into  effect  for 
the  first  time  immediately  upon  declaration  of  the  coal-miners' 
strike  in  April,  1921. 

Emerson  System.  A  modification  of  the  TAYLOR  SYSTEM  of 
SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  devised  by  Harrington  Emerson.  Theo- 
retically, Emerson's  idea  differs  from  Taylor's  "mainly  in  the  separa- 
tion of  what  he  calls  the  'staff'  from  the  'line.'  .  .  .  He  organizes  the 
experts  in  a  staff  of  advisers  whose  duty  it  is  to  transmit  their 
knowledge  to  the  line  officers,  by  whom  it  is  passed  to  the  operators 
and  put  into  effect.  In  other  words,  this  staff  has  no  executive  au- 
thority, while  in  the  Taylor  system  the  executives  are  themselves  the 
experts.  Practically,  the  Emerson  methods  differ  much  more  widely 
than  this  from  those  of  the  Taylor  group  in  that  it  is  Emerson's  policy 
to  establish  standards  of  performance  and  a  bonus  for  their  attain- 
ment as  early  as  possible  and  by  methods  which  are  comparatively 
rough."  The  TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY  of  the  complete  operation 
"goes  down  only  to  large  groups  of  elementary  motions,  on  which 
an  OVER-ALL  TIME  similar  to  that  which  has  been  determined  for 
years  in  all  kinds  of  plants  is  ascertained.  Emerson's  times  are 
expressed  in  minutes,  whereas  Taylor  times  are  in  hundredths  of  a 
minute."  The  method  of  wage  payment  which  is  an  essential  feature 
of  the  Emerson  system  resembles  that  of  the  HALSEY  PLAN  and  the 
GANTT  SYSTEM  in  that  it  sets  a  standard  TASK  and  guarantees  a  time 
rate  irrespective  of  output.  Its  distinctive  character  lies  in  the 
detailed  graduation  of  the  efficiency  bonus  by  which  it  rewards 
greater  output.  The  standard  task  is  considered  one  hundred  per 
cent  efficiency,  and  each  lesser  amount  of  output  is  graded  at  a  lower 
percentage  of  efficiency.  In  relation  to  this  standard,  "the  worker 
who  attains  sixty-seven  per  cent  or  less  gets  his  guaranteed  day 
wages,  and  is  paid  a  bonus  on  a  sliding  scale  for  every  increase  in 
the  percentage  of  efficiency;  at  one  hundred  per  cent  the  bonus 
amounts  to  twenty  per  cent  of  his  wages  and  one  per  cent  is  added 
for  each  additional  one  per  cent  of  efficiency."  The  Emerson  plan 
is  sometimes  designated  the  "individual  effort  system." 

Emigration  Allowances.    See  TRAVELLING  BENEFITS. 

Employee  Representation.  A  general  designation  for  various 
plans  under  which  elected  representatives  of  the  employees  of  an 

[146] 


industrial  plant  meet  with  the  management  in  collective  discussion 
of  working  conditions,  grievances,  etc.  In  some  cases  the  method  of 
"block  representation"  is  followed — that  is  to  say,  the  plant  is 
arbitrarily  divided  into  "blocks"  or  divisions  of  from  fifty  to  two 
hundred  employees  each,  irrespective  of  crafts,  and  each  "block" 
or  division  elects  one  or  more  representatives.  In  other  cases,  the 
various  craft  or  occupational  groups  elect  representatives  on  a  pro- 
portional basis.  A  method  that  has  proved  effective  in  some  large 
establishments  is  that  known  as  the  "Federal  plan,"  which  involves 
a  "cabinet"  consisting  of  management  officials,  an  "upper  house" 
of  foremen  and  other  supervisory  officials,  and  a  "lower  house" 
representative  of  the  rank  and  file  employees.  Employee  represen- 
tation should  never  be  confused  with  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  in 
the  trade  union  sense.  It  is  a  method  of  collective  discussion  merely 
— a  method  often  productive  of  excellent  results  in  the  adjustment  of 
minor  differences  and  misunderstandings  and  the  attainment  of 
increased  plant  efficiency.  But  it  leaves  untouched  the  fundamental 
economic  inequality  between  employer  and  employed.  After  dis- 
cussion is  ended,  the  ultimate  decision  on  any  disputed  point  almost 
invariably  rests  with  the  employer.  On  this  account,  also,  the  term 
"management  sharing,"  often  applied  to  schemes  of  employee 
representation,  is  a  misnomer — except  in  a  limited  and  relative 
sense.  Employee  representation  is  most  commonly  found  in  estab- 
lishments which  oppose  trade  unionism.  (See  SHOP  COMMITTEE 
SYSTEM;  LEITCH  PLAN;  ROCKEFELLER  PLAN;  ARSENAL  PLAN;  SELF- 
GOVERNING  WORKSHOP;  WORKERS'  CONTROL.) 

Employees'  Compensation.    See  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION. 

Employees'  Compensation  Commission.  See  UNITED  STATES 
EMPLOYEES'  COMPENSATION  ACT. 

Employer's  Liability.  This  term  refers  to  the  common-law 
doctrine,  with  such  statutory  modifications  as  may  exist  in  any 
particular  country  or  state,  concerning  the  responsibility  of  an 
employer  for  financial  indemnification  of  an  employee  injured  while 
in  the  employer's  service.  Under  the  basic  common  law,  an  employee 
injured  in  the  performance  of  his  duties  may  prosecute  in  court,  in 
a  manner  similar  to  all  civil  law-suits,  a  claim  for  damages  against 
his  employer;  but  to  be  successful  he  must  establish  that  the  acci- 
dent causing  his  injury  was  due  to  some  fault  of  either  commission 
or  omission  on  the  employer's  part.  But  under  the  influence  of  cer- 
tain early  decisions  by  British  judges,  the  common  law  has  gradu- 

[i47l 


ally  put  further  limitations  upon  the  rights  of  an  employee  as  com- 
pared with  the  rights  of  an  outsider,  in  civil  actions  for  damages, 
by  creating  special  "defenses,"  or  special  conditions  under  which 
an  employer  can  evade  his  responsibility  to  the  employee,  which 
would  not  be  applicable  in  case  of  injury  to  an  outsider.  The  basic 
common  law  of  employer's  liability,  together  with  the  various  special 
"defenses"  that  have  gradually  been  engrafted  upon  it,  are  thus 
summarized  by  Professor  E.  Freund:  "The  employer  is  liable  to 
an  employee  for  full  damages  for  any  personal  injury  proximately 
due  to  the  employer's  negligence  or  wrongful  act.  It  is  the  employ- 
er's duty  to  exercise  ordinary  care  in  his  operations,  in  his  relations 
with  his  employees,  and  in  the  selection  of  co-employees  and  to  pro- 
vide ordinarily  safe  working  places  and  conditions  and  ordinarily 
safe  tools,  machinery,  etc.,  allowing,  however,  for  the  nature  of  the 
employment.  The  risks  of  employment,  unavoidable  by  such  means, 
the  employee  is  deemed  to  have  assumed  and  for  injuries  resulting 
therefrom  there  is  no  liability  (rule  of  assumption  of  ordinary  risks). 
But  even  if  the  employer  fails  in  his  duty,  yet  if  the  employee  with 
knowledge  of  such  faults  nevertheless  continues  in  the  employment, 
he  is  deemed  to  have  assumed  the  risks  therefrom,  and  if  injured 
thereby,  the  employer  is  relieved  from  liability  (defense  of  assump- 
tion of  risks).  If  an  injury  results  from  the  wrong  or  fault  of  a  co- 
employee,  unless  the  employer  has  failed  to  exercise  due  care  in  his 
selection,  or  such  co-employee  is  in  fact  the  employer's  alter  ego 
and  charged  with  his  duties  as  such,  the  employer,  being  without 
fault,  is  not  liable  (fellow-servant  rule,  generally  called  the  defense 
of  fellow-servants  or  co-employee's  fault).  If  the  injury  results  in 
part  from  the  employer's  fault,  but  the  injured  employee's  fault 
contributes  thereto  so  that  the  injury  would  not  have  occurred 
without  it,  the  employer  is  relieved  from  all  liability  (defense  of 
contributory  negligence).  If  the  injury  is  fatal  the  employer  escapes 
liability,  because  although  he  has  done  a  wrong,  it  is  deemed  personal 
to  the  injured  employee,  so  that  no  cause  of  action  therefore  survives 
his  death.  (This  rule,  however,  has  been  so  long  and  generally  changed 
by  statute,  that  it  is  now  the  common  rule  that  the  cause  of  action 
survives  in  favor  of  next  of  kin,  etc.)  Finally  the  burden  of  proof 
as  to  all  points  is  upon  the  injured  party,  and  in  some  states  he  has 
the  additional  burden  of  proving  absence  of  contributory  negligence." 
As  a  result  of  all  this,  it  became  possible  for  a  worker  to  secure  dam- 
ages for  an  injury  only  under  the  most  exceptional  conditions.  After 
long  agitation  in  the  attempt  to  remedy  this  injustice,  laws  have  been 
passed  in  nearly  all  important  foreign  countries,  and  in  nearly  all 

[148] 


states  of  the  American  union,  abolishing  one  or  more  of  the  special 
"defenses,"  or  limiting  their  applicability  to  certain  special  condi- 
tions or  circumstances.  These  statutes  are  commonly  known  as 
"employer's  liability  laws."  It  should  be  carefully  noted  that 
employer's  liability  is  a  matter  entirely  separate  and  distinct  from 
WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION.  The  former  refers  only  to  liability 
under  the  common  law,  and  such  statutory  modifications  of  the  com- 
mon law  as  exist  in  any  particular  country  or  state.  Workmen's 
compensation,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  the  employer  automatically 
liable  for  injuries  to  his  employees,  without  requiring  the  latter 
to  go  through  the  process  of  civil  suit.  It  is  rapidly  superseding  the 
common-law  doctrine  of  employer's  liability  altogether  in  every 
civilized  country.  (See  TRADE  RISK  PRINCIPLE;  COMMON  EMPLOY- 
MENT DOCTRINE;  SUPERIOR  SERVANT  DOCTRINE;  FELLOW  SERVANT 
LAWS.) 

Employers  and  Workmen  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary 
enactment  of  1875,  replacing  the  MASTER  AND  SERVANT  ACT  of  1867, 
— a  change  of  nomenclature  which  expressed  a  fundamental  revolu- 
tion in  the  British  law.  "Henceforth  master  and  servant  became, 
as  employer  and  employee,  two  equal  parties  to  a  civil  contract.  Im- 
prisonment for  breach  of  engagement  was  abolished.  The  legaliza- 
tion of  trade  unions  was  completed  by  the  legal  recognition  of  their 
methods.  Peaceful  PICKETING  was  expressly  permitted.  The  old 
words  'coerce'  and  'molest',  which  had,  in  the  hands  of  prejudiced 
magistrates,  proved  such  instruments  of  oppression,  were  omitted 
from  the  new  law,  and  violence  and  INTIMIDATION  were  dealt  with 
as  part  of  the  general  criminal  code.  No  act  committed  by  a  group 
of  workmen  was  henceforth  punishable  unless  the  same  act  by  an 
individual  was  itself  a  criminal  offence.  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING, 
in  short,  with  all  its  necessary  accompaniments,  was,  after  fifty 
years  of  legislative  struggle,  finally  recognized  by  the  law  of  the  land." 

Employers'  Associations.  Organizations  of  employers  for 
mutual  benefit  and  united  action — principally  for  dealing  with 
or  combating  organized  labor.  Such  associations  "may  be 
divided  into  two  general  classes, — those  organized  along  trade 
lines  and  those  disregarding  trade  lines.  The  first  class  of  associa- 
tions contain  only  employers  of  a  particular  trade  or  of  closely 
related  trades;  their  organization  is  local,  district,  or  national,  in 
accordance  with  the  structure  of  the  opposing  trade  union.  Parallel 
organizations  of  employers  and  employees — a  necessary  condition 
for  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING — are  here  present,  and  such  employers' 


associations,  whether  conciliatory  or  militant  in  spirit,  tend  sooner 
or  later  to  form  agreements  with  the  corresponding  unions.     The 
second  class  of  associations,  on  the  contrary,  admit  to  membership 
employers  in  various  trades,  and  in  some  cases  non-union  employees. 
They  are  not  designed  for  collective  bargaining,  but  for  a  reactionary 
destruction  of  the  unions,  and  a  return  to  the  old  system  of  individual- 
ism."    Structurally  and  functionally,  many  large  employers'  asso- 
ciations of  the  trade  type  follow  closely  the  lines  of  trade  union  organ- 
ization.   Each  form  of  combination — the  employers'  and  the  workers' 
— is  organized  by  trades,  in  local,  district  and  national  bodies.    Each 
has  its  city,  state,  and  national  forms  of  federation.    Each  involves 
the  same  restraint  upon  FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT.    Each  has  its  defense 
fund  for  the  relief  of  members  involved  in  strike  or  lockout.    Each 
employs  BUSINESS  AGENTS,  ORGANIZERS,  STRIKE  DEPUTIES,   how- 
ever the  specific  titles  of  these  officials  may  vary.    Each  endeavors 
by  propaganda,  LABOR  LOBBIES,  and  political  activities  to  influence 
public  opinion  and  legislation  in  its  favor.    Each  employs  persuasive 
or  coercive  methods  as  specific  conditions  make  advisable.    Finally, 
mention  should  be  made  of  the  tendency  of  the  less  scrupulous  types 
of  organization  on  both  sides  to  form  illicit  combinations  of  a  joint 
character,  in  disregard  of  "public"  rights  and  interests — as  evi- 
denced, in  the  particular  case  of  the  New  York  building  trades,  by 
the  recent  disclosures  before  the  LOCKWOOD  COMMITTEE.     But  in 
the  end,  as  impartial  authorities  point  out,  "probably  the  whole 
movement  of  organization  among  employers  will  be  found  to  have 
hastened  the  era  of  peace  by  checking  the  extortionate  demands  of 
the  more  radical  unions  and  by  providing  that  degree  of  organiza- 
tion among  employers  which  is  required  for  the  most  effective  kind 
of  collective  bargaining."    According  to  Professor  Commons,  "em- 
ployers' associations  are  just  as  necessary  to  restrain  labor  unions, 
and  labor  unions  to  restrain  employers'  associations,  as  two  houses 
of  Congress,  a  Supreme  Court,  a  president  and  political  parties, 
to  restrain  social  classes.    Progress  does  not  come  when  one  associa- 
tion destroys  the  other,  but  when  one  association  destroys  the 
excesses  of  the  other."    Most  employers'  associations  are  supported 
by  initiation  and  annual  dues,  often  supplemented  by  monthly 
assessments  proportioned  according  to  the  number  of  workers  em- 
ployed by  an  individual  member.     (See  STRIKE  INSURANCE;  EX- 
CLUSIVE AGREEMENT;  CITIZENS'  ALLIANCES;  DISCRIMINATION;  EM- 
PLOYMENT BUREAUS;  BERUFSGENOSSENSCHAFTEN;  BLACKLIST.) 

Employers'  Closed  Shop.     See  CLOSED  SHOP;  OPEN  SHOP. 

[150] 


Employers'  Housing.    See  COMPANY  HOUSING. 

Employment  at.  Will,  (i)  Employment  under  arrangements 
that  permit  of  its  termination  at  any  time  when  either  employer 
or  worker  so  desires.  (2)  The  status  of  a  trade  union  member  who, 
because  of  old  age  or  other  disability,  is  exempt  from  the  customary 
WORKING  RULES  of  the  union.  (See  CONTRACT  AT  WILL;  EXEMPT 
CARDS.) 

Employment  Bureaus  or  Employment  Agencies.  Public  or 
private  offices  whose  function  it  is  to  find  jobs  for  workers  and  work- 
ers for  jobs.  They  are  of  six  general  types,  according  as  they  are 
maintained  (i)  by  private  commercial  interests,  (2)  by  trade  unions, 
(3)  by  workmen  irrespective  of  particular  trades,  (4)  by  EMPLOYERS' 
ASSOCIATIONS,  (5)  by  philanthropic  organizations,  and  (6)  by  munici- 
pality, state,  or  nation.  Those  of  the  first-named  type,  commonly 
called  "pay  agencies"  because  of  the  fact  that  their  revenues  are 
derived  from  fees  paid  by  the  workers,  are  much  the  most  numerous. 
Although  a  considerable  number  of  these  private  agencies  are  of 
thoroughly  reputable  character,  there  is  also  a  large  class  which 
merely  preys  on  the  unemployed  and  takes  advantage  of  their  need. 
On  this  account  the  pay  agencies  in  this  and  some  other  countries 
are  largely  subject  to  restrictive  legislation  designed  to  prevent 
fraud  and  extortion  and  to  insure  moral  surroundings.  The  second, 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth  types  above  mentioned  belong  to  the  class  of 
"private"  agencies  which  as  a  rule  charge  no  fees.  A  notable 
example  of  the  second  type  is  to  be  found  in  the  "day  rooms"  main- 
tained by  the  various  printers'  unions;  and  of  the  fourth  type,  in  the 
chain  of  bureaus  conducted  by  the  National  Metal  Trades  Associa- 
tion in  fourteen  large  cities  of  the  United  States.  But  agencies  of 
both  these  types  are  limited  in  usefulness  by  their  partisan  character, 
which  tends  to  make  of  them  potential  or  actual  weapons  in  labor 
warfare.  Organizations  of  the  fifth-named  type  are  usually  restricted 
in  their  activities  to  finding  casual  employment  for  only  the  most 
destitute  cases  that  come  under  their  notice.  The  sixth  type,  com- 
prising all  "public"  employment  agencies,  is  the  one  which  is  most 
in  accord  with  the  social  trend  of  the  times,  and  which  it  is  hoped 
will  ultimately  supersede  the  various  other  types  altogether.  (See 
LABOR  EXCHANGES;  INTELLIGENCE  OFFICES;  HOUSE  OF  CALL  SYSTEM; 
UNITED  STATES  EMPLOYMENT  SERVICE;  SPLIT-FEE  SYSTEM;  EM- 
PLOYMENT OFFICES  COORDINATION  BILL;  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COM- 
MISSION.) 


Employment  Certificates.  In  the  United  States  the  employ- 
ment of  children  below  a  certain  age  (fourteen  years  in  all  but  five 
states)  is  forbidden.  In  most  states  documentary  proof,  supplied 
by  parents  or  school  authorities,  of  the  child's  age  is  demanded  in 
the  form  of  an  employment  certificate  or  working  permit,  which 
must  be  placed  on  file  in  an  establishment  before  the  child  can  be 
employed  therein.  Such  certificates  are  sometimes  called  "working 
papers."  (See  CHILD  LABOR.) 

Employment  Department.  See  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  DE- 
PARTMENT. 

Employment  Management.  That  department  or  section  of 
PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRATION  in  a  large  industrial  plant  which  has  to 
do  with  the  hiring,  discharge,  promotion,  efficiency,  etc.,  of  employees, 
and  with  the  maintenance  of  amicable  relations  between  management 
and  workers.  The  scope  of  employment  management  varies  con- 
siderably in  different  establishments,  and  sometimes  the  whole 
field  of  personnel  administration  is  included  under  this  term.  (See 
EMPLOYMENT  MANAGER;  JOB  ANALYSIS;  RATING  SCALE;  TRADE 
TESTS;  THREE-POSITION  PLAN;  WELFARE  WORK.) 

Employment  Manager.  In  many  large  industrial  plants,  an 
official  who  is  responsible  for  the  selection,  training,  education, 
promotion,  transfer,  and  discharge  of  all  employees.  In  some 
establishments  the  administration  of  WELFARE  WORK  is  also  the 
province  of  the  employment  manager,  although  it  is  more  commonly 
assigned  to  a  separate  official.  The  terms  "employment  manager" 
and  "labor  manager"  are  usually  synonymous.  (See  EMPLOYMENT 
MANAGEMENT.) 

Employment  of  Women,  Young  Persons,  and  Children 
Act,  1920.  See  Two  DAY-SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Employment  Offices  Coordination  Bill.  A  Canadian  meas- 
ure, passed  by  the  Dominion  Parliament  in  1918,  the  purposes  of 
which  are  stated  as  follows:  (i)  To  aid  and  encourage  the  organiza- 
tion and  coordination  of  employment  offices  and  to  promote  uni- 
formity of  methods  among  them;  (2)  to  establish  one  or  more  clear- 
ing houses  for  the  interchange  of  information  between  employment 
offices  concerning  the  transfer  of  labor  and  other  matters;  (3)  to 
compile  and  distribute  information  received  from  employment 
offices  and  from  other  sources  regarding  prevailing  conditions  of 
employment. 


Employment  Service  Council.  A  Canadian  governmental 
body  which  acts  in  an  advisory  capacity  to  the  Minister  of  Labor. 
It  includes  a  representative  of  each  provincial  government,  besides 
workers',  employees',  soldiers',  and  central  governmental  repre- 
sentatives. 

Employment  Service,  United  States.  See  UNITED  STATES 
EMPLOYMENT  SERVICE. 

Employmental  Unionism.  The  structural  type  of  trade 
union  organization  which  aims  at  following  the  lines  of  the  employers' 
organization  is  sometimes  so  called.  Employmental  unionism  is 
perhaps  best  exemplified  in  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen  of 
Great  Britain.  The  declared  object  of  this  body  is  "to  secure  the 
complete  organization  of  all  workers  employed  on  or  in  connection 
with  any  railway  in  the  United  Kingdom."  Thus  it  seeks  to  enroll 
in  one  union,  not  merely  all  sections  of  railway  workers,  but  actually 
all  who  are  employed  by  any  railway  undertaking — thus  including 
not  only  the  engineering  and  wood-working  mechanics  in  the  railway 
engineering  workshops,  but  also  the  cooks,  waiters,  and  housemaids 
in  railway  hotels,  the  sailors  and  firemen  on  the  railway  companies' 
steamers,  and  the  compositors,  lithographers,  and  bookbinders  in 
railway  printing  works — "even  the  men  whom  one,  at  least,  of  the 
largest  companies  keeps  in  constant  employment  at  the  manufacture 
of  crutches  and  wooden  legs  for  the  disabled  members  of  its  staff." 
(See  NEW  MODEL  OF  TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

Encroaching  Control.  This  term  is  used  in  England  to 
express  the  relative  or  progressive  idea  of  WORKERS'  CONTROL — "the 
policy  of  transferring  from  the  employer  or  his  representatives  to 
the  organized  workers  through  their  trade  unions  and  workshop 
organizations  as  many  as  possible  of  the  functions  at  present  con- 
trolled by  CAPITALISM  in  the  sphere  of  production." 

Encroachment.    See  OVERLAP;  UNDERMINING. 

Engel's  Law  of  Family  Expenditure.  As  a  result  of  detailed 
study  of  FAMILY  BUDGETS  in  Saxony,  Dr.  Ernst  Engel,  an  eminent 
German  statistician,  laid  down  the  following  general  law  of  family 
expenditure,  or  domestic  consumption:  As  the  income  of  a  family 
increases,  (i)  the  percentage  of  expenditure  for  food  decreases; 
(2)  the  percentage  of  expenditure  for  clothing  remains  approximately 
the  same;  (3)  the  percentage  of  expenditure  for  rent,  fuel,  and 
light  is  iavariable;  (4)  the  percentage  of  expenditure  for  education, 

[iS3l 


health,  recreation,  etc.,  increases.  This  "law"  has  been  confirmed 
by  many  investigations.  However,  when  the  price-increases  of  the 
various  groups  of  items  vary  widely,  as  was  the  case  during  the  recent 
war,  "Engel's  law"  does  not  hold  true. 

Engineered  Strike.     See  SPONTANEOUS  STRIKE. 

Engineering  Revision.  Sometimes  used  as  a  generic  term 
to  cover  all  applications  of  engineering  skill  which  bear  upon  INDUS- 
TRIAL SAFETY.  It  includes  arrangement  of  buildings,  the  proper 
layout  of  the  transportation  system,  the  design  of  all  machines  with 
reference  to  safe  operation,  the  provision  of  proper  lighting — in 
fact,  the  almost  endless  changes  and  modifications  which  have  taken 
place  or  ought  to  take  place  for  safety  reasons  in  the  structure  and 
arrangement  of  industrial  plants. 

English  Week.  A  working  week  of  five  and  one-half  days — 
so  called  because  the  English  laws  generally  prescribe  a  half-holiday 
and  a  Sunday  of  rest  for  workers  in  industrial  and  commercial 
establishments. 

Enlightened  Self-interest.    See  LAISSEZ  FAIRE. 
Enterpriser.    See  ENTREPRENEUR. 

Enticement  of  Employees.  By  the  old  English  common  law 
it  was  illegal  to  entice  an  employee  away  from  his  employer,  on  the 
ground  of  the  alleged  damage  to  the  employer.  This  doctrine  was 
long  since  abandoned  in  Great  Britain,  and  has  seldom  been  applied 
by  the  authoritative  courts  in  the  United  States.  A  different  problem 
arises  where  INTIMIDATION  is  involved  or  where  persuasion  or  coercion 
is  directed  toward  those  not  already  in  employment.  Another 
special  exception  may  be  noted  in  the  case  of  workers  employed  by 
interstate  carriers — as  illustrated  in  the  DEBS  CASE,  when  the  in- 
junction issued  prohibited  among  other  things  the  persuasion  of 
those  in  employment  to  quit  or  to  refuse  to  perform  their  duties. 
In  several  of  the  Southern  states  statutes  have  been  enacted  which 
prohibit  enticing  away  persons  who  are  under  contract  of  employ- 
ment, and  which  also  prohibit  laborers  themselves  from  breaking 
such  contracts.  These  statutes  were  apparently  specifically  designed 
to  prevent  negro  farm  laborers  from  breaking  their  contracts  to 
"make  a  crop"  by  work  throughout  the  season. 

Entrance  into  a  Trade.  Under  this  phrase  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb  designate  that  class  of  trade  union  regulations  described  in 
the  entry,  RESTRICTION  OF  NUMBERS,  in  the  present  volume. 

[i54] 


Entrepreneur.  An  owner  of  wealth  who  assumes  the  responsi- 
bility of  production — one  who  organizes  and  manages  an  industrial 
or  commercial  enterprise,  and  supplies  at  least  some  part  of  the 
capital  required.  He  is  the  modern  employer  of  labor,  the  CAPTAIN 
OP  INDUSTRY.  Such  English  terms  as  "undertaker,"  "assumer," 
"adventurer,"  and  "enterpriser"  were  formerly  used  in  designation 
of  such  a  person;  and  the  German  term  unternehmer  is  still  occasion- 
ally used.  But  the  French  word  entrepreneur  is  now  given  prefer- 
ence by  most  authorities.  The  entrepreneur  is  in  one  sense  merely 
a  capitalist,  but  he  is  the  capitalist  who  takes  all  the  risk  of  the 
undertaking  and  under  our  present  system  is  entitled  to  the  "profits," 
whereas  the  ordinary  capitalist  lends  his  money  on  reasonable 
security  and  obtains  his  share  of  the  proceeds  in  "interest."  The 
entrepreneur  must  not  be  confused  with  the  manager  or  managing 
director,  who  is  really  a  laborer  working  with  his  brain,  though  it 
often  happens  that  in  private  businesses  entrepreneur  and  manager 
are  one  and  the  same  person.  (See  WAGES  OF  MANAGEMENT.) 

Equal  Pay  for  Equal  Work.  Denotes  the  principle  that 
women  in  industry  should  receive  the  same  remuneration  as  that 
given  to  men,  when  engaged  in  the  same  occupation  and  upon  the 
same  kind  of  work.  This  principle  received  official  recognition  in 

the    LABOR    PLATFORM    OF    THE    LEAGUE    OF    NATIONS.       More    often 

than  not,  however,  the  work  is  not  actually  equal,  since  the  sexes 
tend  to  be  employed  at  separate  occupations  or  perform  different 
processes.  Then,  also,  no  two  workers  turn  out  exactly  the  same 
amount  of  work  in  the  same  time;  neither  is  the  work  of  exactly 
the  same  quality.  "Equal  pay  for  equal  effort"  or  "Equal  pay  for 
similar  duties"  would  be  more  accurately  expressive  of  the  principle 
involved. 

Equitable  Pioneers.    See  ROCHDALE  PLAN. 

Erdman  Act.  A  Congressional  enactment  of  1898,  establish- 
ing machinery  for  the  settlement  of  industrial  disputes  between  the 
management  and  employees  of  railroads  engaged  in  interstate  com- 
merce. It  was  superseded  by  the  NEWLANDS  ACT  in  1913. 

Espionage  in  Industry.  After  an  exhaustive  investigation 
of  this  subject  made  by  Sidney  Howard  for  the  Cabot  Fund  for 
Industrial  Research,  the  investigator  states:  "The  employer's 
practice  of  setting  spies  to  observe  and  inform  on  workers  in  factory 
and  union  has  now  every  appearance  of  firm  establishment.  It  has 
been  developing  inconspicuously  these  many  years.  Only  an  occa- 

I  iSS] 


sional  indiscretion  in  this  place  or  in  that  has  ever  brought  it  any 
measure  of  public  attention.  Its  doings  are  still  far  from  a  state  of 
ideal  publicity,  but  recent  labor  disputes  have  so  frequently  encoun- 
tered it,  have  dealt  with  it  over  so  wide  an  area,  that  it  can  no  longer 
be  considered  in  terms  of  locality,  of  individual  industries,  or  even 
of  particular  crises.  It  seems  to  have  become  something  of  a  factor 
in  American  industry  as  a  whole."  It  operates  through  the 
secret  service  of  great  corporations  and  powerful  EMPLOYERS' 
ASSOCIATIONS,  and  provides  the  sole  source  of  revenue  for  hundreds 
of  prosperous  LABOR  DETECTIVE  AGENCIES,  large  and  small.  It  is  a 
method  which  trade  unions  utilize  as  well  as  employers,  though  on 
a  much  smaller  scale;  one  detective  bureau  in  New  York  advertises 
espionage  service  to  labor  organizations  only.  When  the  FEDERAL 
COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  examined  the  workers  and 
employers  of  American  industry,  it  found  scarcely  one  who  had  not 
an  admission  to  make  or  a  story  to  tell  of  the  workings  of  the  indus- 
trial spy  system.  "Industrial  spying,"  says  the  editor  of  "The  New 
Republic,"  "is  a  large  industry,  drawing  its  profits  out  of  the  per- 
petuation of  suspicion  between  employer  and  employee.  Remove 
suspicion,  establish  industrial  relations  on  the  basis  of  frank  confer- 
ence, as  has  been  done  in  many  industries,  and  the  industrial  spy 
loses  his  job.  But  where  no  conference  exists,  where  employer  and 
employee  have  no  regular  method  of  consultation,  the  spy  appears 
as  the  real  intermediary  between  capital  and  labor.  Industrial 
espionage  is  a  substitute  for  democratic  industrial  relations,  a  sneak- 
ing, underhanded,  poisonous,  trouble-making,  trouble-perpetuating 
substitute.  It  is  to  the  hygiene  of  industry  what  drug  addiction  is 
to  the  hygiene  of  the  individual,  a  temporary  and  illusive  relief  that 
produces  more  trouble  than  ever  it  can  cure."  (See  UNDER-COVER 
MEN;  AGENT  PROVOCATEUR;  INTER-CHURCH  STEEL  REPORT.) 

Establishment.  As  ordinarily  used,  this  may  mean  either 
(i)  a  single  industrial  factory  or  WORKS,  commonly  called  a  PLANT, 
or  (2)  more  than  one  factory  or  works,  provided  they  are  owned  or 
controlled  and  operated  by  a  single  individual,  partnership,  corpora- 
tion, or  other  owner  or  operator,  and  are  located  in  the  same  town 
or  city. 

Establishment  Fund.  This  term  refers  to  a  plan,  often 
adopted  in  large  industrial  or  commercial  undertakings,  by  which 
all  the  workers  of  one  establishment,  or  of  several  correlated  estab- 
lishments in  one  industry,  make  regular  (usually  monthly)  contribu- 
tions to  a  fund  for  providing  various  forms  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCB 


in  their  own  behalf.  Such  contributions  are  often  compulsory,  and 
occasionally  the  fund  is  enhanced  by  a  more  or  less  substantial 
subsidy  from  the  employer.  In  any  case,  the  company  administers 
the  fund.  A  stated  period  of  service  with  the  company  is  required 
before  an  individual  employee  may  become  a  beneficiary  of  the 
fund,  and  usually  he  forfeits  his  payments  if  he  leaves  the  company 
for  any  reason.  Funds  of  this  sort  are  particularly  prevalent  in  the 
railroad  industry  in  the  United  States,  where  they  are  often  admin- 
istered by  definite  branches  of  the  railway  service  known  as  "rail- 
way relief  departments,"  "voluntary  relief  departments,"  "volun- 
tary benefit  associations,"  etc.  Establishment  funds  are  sometimes 
called  "relief  funds"  and  "benefit  funds";  but  under  whatever 
name,  they  should  be  carefully  differentiated  from  trade  union  benefit 
funds.  (See  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE;  DEFERRED  PARTICIPATION.) 

Estimate  Work.     See  LUMPER. 

Examining  Board.  In  some  trade  unions,  a  local  or  district 
board  which  examines  applicants  for  membership  in  the  union,  with 
a  view  to  determining  their  qualifications.  (See  ADMITTANCE  TO 
THE  TRADE  UNION.) 

Exception  Principle.  It  is  a  basic  principle  of  the  TAYLOR 
SYSTEM  of  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  that  the  ablest  men  are  or  should 
be  the  highest  in  the  organization.  Therefore,  "all  matters  within 
the  capacity  of  subordinate  officials  are  finally  determined  by  them 
and  only  such  matters  as  are  beyond  their  scope  or  authority  are 
passed  up  the  line,  thus  leaving  the  higher  officials  free  to  devote 
their  time  to  the  broadest  and  most  important  problems  of  adminis- 
tration." This  is  commonly  known  as  the  "exception  principle." 

Exchange  Theory  of  Wages.  As  elaborated  by  the  Austrian 
school  of  economists,  in  connection  with  the  PRODUCTIVITY  THEORY 
OF  WAGES,  the  exchange  theory  holds  that  "wages  are  advances 
made  by  the  employer  to  the  workman  in  order  that  he  [the  work- 
man] will  not  have  to  wait  for  the  completion  of  the  product  before 
he  can  receive  his  share.  The  time  element  is  important  in  modern 
industry,  and  this  time  space  is  bridged  over  by  wages." 

Exclusion  Policy  of  Trade  Unionism.  It  is  a  very  common 
practice  of  trade  unionists  to  refuse  to  work  with  non-unionists, 
and  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  in  various  ways  to  compel  employers 
to  exclude  non-unionists  and  others  who  are  obnoxious  to  the  union. 
The  highest  English  judicial  authority,  the  House  of  Lords,  has  held, 

[i57] 


in  the  famous  case  of  Allen  v.  Flood,  that  workingmen  have  the 
right  to  refuse  to  labor  with  others  to  whom  they  object,  or,  indeed, 
to  refuse  to  labor  on  any  ground  which  seems  to  them  proper.  Amer- 
ican courts,  on  the  other  hand,  usually  take  the  position  that  such 
action  on  the  part  of  the  unions  is  an  interference  with  the  liberty 
both  of  the  employer  and  the  workingman.  But  in  this  connection, 
as  with  all  other  matters  of  trade  union  policy,  it  is  vitally  important 
to  examine  the  underlying  motive  or  object.  "The  chief  purpose 
of  the  trade  union  is  to  increase  the  market  price  of  that  kind  of 
labor  which  the  members  have  to  sell.  As  soon  as  the  union  acquires 
a  partial  control  of  the  market,  strong  enough  to  have  some  effect 
upon  wages,  all  workingmen  in  the  trade,  both  within  it  and  without 
it,  begin  to  profit  by  the  increase.  Workmen  outside  may  gain  in 
either  of  two  ways.  They  may  get  the  full  rate  which  the  members 
of  the  union  get,  or,  by  cutting  under  the  union  rate,  they  may  secure 
steadier  employment.  In  either  case  the  union  feels  that  it  has  a 
grievance  against  them.  The  maintenance  of  the  union  organization, 
through  which  the  wage  is  upheld,  costs  time  and  trouble  and  money. 
More  important  than  anything  else,  it  involves  for  those  who  are 
active  in  it  the  peril  of  the  displeasure  of  their  employers  and  the 
loss  of  their  livelihood.  If  the  non-union  man  secures  a  rate  of  wages 
above  what  he  could  get  if  the  union  did  not  exist,  the  members  of 
the  union  feel  that  he  has  made  a  gain  directly  at  their  expense.  .  .  . 
If  he  is  not  willing  to  share  the  burden,  it  seems  to  them  only  just 
that  he  should  be  excluded  from  the  gain.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
nonunion  men,  as  efficient  as  the  members  of  the  union,  compete 
for  employment  by  cutting  under  the  union  rates,  there  is  a  great 
weakening  of  the  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING.  The  employer  will  prefer 
the  nonunion  to  the  union  man  because  he  is  cheaper.  Those  who 
are  in  the  union  will  be  tempted  to  leave  it,  because  their  chances 
of  employment  will  be  greater  outside  than  in.  The  final  result 
of  the  process,  if  permitted  to  work  itself  out  freely,  will  be,  it  is 
declared,  the  destruction  of  the  organization  itself.  If  the  union  is 
willing  to  receive  any  competent  person  into  its  ranks,  no  man  can 
complain  of  being  absolutely  deprived  of  work  because  union  men 
refuse  to  work  with  him  so  long  as  he  fails  to  join  the  organization. 
When,  however,  a  union  has  established  a  substantial  control  of  its 
special  kind  of  labor,  the  temptation  arises  to  restrict  the  number  of 
members.  This  is  occasionally  done  by  an  absolute  refusal  to  receive 
new  candidates.  Such  action  is,  however,  rare;  the  forms  in  which 
this  tendency  more  commonly  appears  are  restriction  on  APPRENTICE- 
SHIP and  high  INITIATION  FEES."  (See  RESTRICTION  OF  NUMBERS; 


MONOPOLY    POLICY    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM;    COMPULSORY    TRADE 
UNIONISM.) 

Exclusive  Agreement.  A  form  of  TRADE  AGREEMENT,  at  one 
time  common  in  the  building  trades,  by  which  the  members  of  an 
EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATION  agree  to  hire  none  but  union  men,  while 
the  unions  on  thei  side  agree  to  work  exclusively  for  the  associated 
employers.  Such  an  agreement,  among  its  other  effects,  compelled 
the  contractors  of  a  locality  to  become  and  remain  members  of  the 
employers'  association,  as  otherwise  they  could  not  obtain  a  sufficient 
number  of  skilled  workmen.  The  union  men  were  usually  given 
higher  wages  or  shorter  hours,  and  in  return  the  association  obtained 
a  monopoly  of  the  local  contracting  in  the  particular  trade  concerned. 
Although  declared  illegal  by  the  courts,  the  agreement  was  frequently 
made,  and  is  yet  sometimes  found,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  national 
organizations  now  oppose  its  use.  (See  BIRMINGHAM  ALLIANCES.) 

Executive  Committee.  See  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — 
LOCAL. 

Exempt  Cards.  In  some  trade  unions,  members  over  a  certain 
age  and  physically  unable  to  earn  the  standard  rate  of  wages  are 
granted  "exempt  cards"  or  "old-age  certificates"  which  permit  them 
to  work  at  certain  specified  rates  below  the  union  standard.  (See 
EMPLOYMENT  AT  WILL;  STANDARD  RATE.) 

Exemption  of  Wages.     See  WAGE  EXEMPTION. 
Existence  Minimum.     See  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL. 

Exploitation.  The  use  of  persons  or  materials  as  a  means 
to  profit-making.  Economists  use  the  word  without  reproach; 
but  socialists  and  others  who  condemn  the  PROFITS  SYSTEM  make 
exploitation  synonymous  with  the  idea  of  unethically  taking  advan- 
tage of  human  necessity,  ignorance,  good  nature,  credulity,  etc. 
In  this  sense  scientific  socialists  regard  all  existing  capital  as  con- 
sisting, in  essence,  of  exploited  "labor." 

Expropriatory  General  Strike.     See  GENERAL  STRIKE. 
Expulsion.     See  FINANCES  OF  TRADE  UNIONS;  DISCIPLINE. 

Extra -Hazardous  Occupations.  See  HAZARDOUS  OCCUPA- 
TIONS. 

Extractive  Industries.     See  INDUSTRY. 

Extremists.     See  LEFT,  LEFT  WING. 

[i59] 


F.  L.  P.     See  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY. 
F.  S.     See  FABIAN  SOCIETY. 

Fabian  Research  Department.  See  LABOR  RESEARCH  DE- 
PARTMENT. 

Fabian  Society.  An  association  for  socialistic  research  and 
propaganda,  founded  in  London  in  1884,  and  numbering  among  its 
early  members  Bernard  Shaw,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb,  Graham 
Wallas,  H.  G.  Wells,  and  other  well-known  persons.  It  sought  at 
first  to  advance  the  cause  of  SOCIALISM  by  "permeating"  the  con- 
ventional political  parties  with  advanced  economic  ideas.  Later, 
however,  the  Society  definitely  entered  the  field  of  labor  politics, 
and  in  1900  helped  to  found  the  INDEPENDENT  LABOR  PARTY.  The 
Fabian  leaders,  particularly  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  have  exerted  a 
strong  influence  on  the  British  labor  movement  ever  since.  In  1918 
Mr.  Webb  was  one  of  the  principal  factors  in  drafting  the  British 
Labor  Party's  famous  reconstruction  programme,  "LABOR  AND  THE 
NEW  SOCIAL  ORDER."  The  Fabian  Society  has,  at  least  until  lately, 
advocated  a  programme  tending  strongly  in  the  direction  of  adminis- 
trative STATE  SOCIALISM.  Its  members  are  critical  of  Marxian 
formulae,  and  believe  for  the  most  part  in  the  gradual  development 
of  society  into  a  COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH.  (See  PERMEATION 
POLICY;  LABOR  RESEARCH  DEPARTMENT;  FABIANISM.) 

Fabianism.  Politically,  the  doctrine  or  method  of  "making 
haste  slowly,"  the  term  being  derived  from  the  name  of  Quintus 
Fabius  Maximus,  a  Roman  general  noted  for  his  cautious  and 
dilatory  tactics.  In  the  modern  socialist  movement,  a  narrower 
usage  confines  this  term  to  the  theories  and  practice  of  the  British 
FABIAN  SOCIETY. 

Fachschulen.  In  Germany,  specialized  TRADE  SCHOOLS  for 
apprentices,  coordinate  with  the  CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS  and  alterna- 
tive to  them.  They  are  for  the  most  part  conducted  by  trade  guilds. 

[160] 


Factory  Acts.  A  general  term  covering  all  legislation,  whether 
applied  to  factories  or  to  other  industrial  or  commercial  establish- 
ments, in  regard  to  such  matters  as  safety  and  health  of  workers, 
hours  of  labor,  CHILD  LABOR,  payment  of  wages,  etc.  The  term  has 
usually  been  confined  to  such  laws  as  require  continuous  official 
inspection  and  enforcement;  as  distinguished  from  laws  which  in- 
volve the  bringing  of  an  individual  court  action  (such  as  MECHANIC'S 

LIEN,    WAGE    EXEMPTION,    EMPLOYER'S    LIABILITY,    etc.),    the      latter 

class  being  known  as  LABOR  LEGISLATION.  This  distinction,  however, 
is  tending  to  disappear,  and  "labor  legislation"  is  now  generally 
used  in  designation  of  all  laws  relating  to  labor. 

Factory  and  Workshop  Acts.  Factory  legislation  in  Great 
Britain  dates  from  the  year  1802,  and  between  that  date  and  1856 
numerous  statutes  were  passed  to  regulate  the  hours  of  labor  of 
women,  young  persons,  and  children  in  textile  factories,  and  to  make 
provisions  for  their  safety,  etc.  In  1864  and  1867  certain  non- 
textile  factories  and  workshops  were  dealt  with;  and  in  1878,  as  a 
result  of  a  Royal  Commission  appointed  in  1875,  a  comprehensive 
Factory  and  Workshop  Act  was  passed.  This  was  followed  by 
various  other  Acts  in  1883,  1889,  1891,  1895,  and  1897.  Then  the 
provisions  of  these  Acts  were  consolidated  in  the  Factory  and  Work- 
shop Act  of  1901.  This,  with  various  amending  Acts  of  later  date, 
is  now  the  principal  general  labor  code  of  Great  Britain.  The  matters 
dealt  with  are  ventilation,  sanitation,  cleanliness,  fencing  of  machin- 
ery, fire-escapes  and  exits,  conduct  of  dangerous  trades,  etc.  For 
women,  young  persons  (those  between  fourteen  and  eighteen  years 
of  age),  and  children  there  are  special  regulations  in  regard  to  working 
hours,  etc.  The  employment  of  children  under  twelve  years  of  age 
is  forbidden.  An  elaborate  system  of  factory  and  workshop  inspec- 
tion is  provided  for.  (See  PARTICULARS  CLAUSE;  SANITATION  AND 
SAFETY.) 

Factory  Committee  or  Council.     See  WORKS  COUNCIL. 

Factory  Committees  in  Russia.  See  TRADE  UNION  ORGANI- 
ZATION IN  RUSSIA;  TRADE  UNIONS  IN  RUSSIA;  WORKERS'  CONTROL 
IN  RUSSIA. 

Factory  Inspection.  The  several  American  states  and  those 
foreign  countries  which  have  enacted  laws  protecting  employees 
and  regulating  their  hours  in  factories  and  in  mines  have  found  it 
necessary,  in  order  to  secure  the  enforcement  of  such  legislation, 
to  create  staffs  of  inspectors  with  police  powers.  The  duties  of  these 

[161] 


inspectors  include  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  providing  for  safety 
and  sanitation;  those  prohibiting  CHILD  LABOR,  in  which  case  usually 
cooperation  is  maintained  with  the  school  authorities  and  the  truant 
officers  where  such  officers  exist;  those  for  the  regulation  of  SWEAT 
SHOPS,  bake  shops,  and  mercantile  establishments;  those  regulating 
employment  on  public  works,  and  so  on.  In  those  states  which  have 
STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSIONS,  the  factory  inspection  system  is 
usually  under  the  control  of  the  commission;  in  other  states  the 
system  is  separately  organized. 

Factory  Schools.  TRADE  SCHOOLS  carried  on  in  connection 
with  large  industrial  establishments,  the  instruction  being  designed 
primarily  as  a  substitute  for  APPRENTICESHIP,  are  commonly  so 
called.  The  term  is  also  sometimes  applied  to  general  CONTINUATION 
SCHOOLS  conducted  by  individual  employers  within  their  own  estab- 
lishments. (See  CORPORATION  SCHOOLS;  VESTIBULE  SCHOOLS;  RAIL- 
WAY SCHOOLS;  WORKS  SCHOOLS.) 

Factory  System.  As  marking  the  fourth  and  latest  stage 
in  modern  INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION,  this  is  the  method  of  LARGE- 
SCALE  PRODUCTION  (superseding  the  DOMESTIC  SYSTEM)  under  which 
workers  and  machinery  are  concentrated  in  specially  designed  build- 
ings known  as  factories.  This  method  usually  involves  the  use  of 
complex  machinery  and  tends  toward  a  minute  DIVISION  OF  LABOR. 
The  individual  initiative  of  the  domestic  system  is  replaced  by  cor- 
porate responsibility,  and  the  control  of  industry  passes  definitely 
into  the  hands  of  the  owners  of  capital.  In  many  cases  the  organiza- 
tion of  production  has  extended  until  it  involves  vastly  more  than 
the  single  factory — until  it  includes,  in  a  unified  system,  many  fac- 
tories, and  sometimes  a  great  variety  of  industries,  cooperating 
toward  the  production  of  a  single  ultimate  product  or  class  of  related 
products.  (See  NATIONAL  ECONOMY;  LABOR  PROBLEM;  WAGE 
SYSTEM.) 

Factory  System  in  the  Garment  Trades.  As  distinguished 
from  the  CONTRACT  SYSTEM  or  any  form  of  OUTWORK,  the  term  "fac- 
tory system"  denotes  in  the  garment  trades  the  plan  or  method 
under  which  articles  are  produced  entirely  upon  the  premises  of  the 
manufacturer.  The  term  "Boston  system"  is  sometimes  used  in  a 
similar  sense.  (See  INSIDE  SHOP.) 

Fair,  Unfair.  As  used  by  trade  unionists,  these  adjectives 
commonly  denote  the  acceptance  or  non-acceptance  of  union  regu- 
lations and  conditions,  on  the  part  of  either  employers  or  fellow- 

[162] 


workers.  Thus,  a  "fair  shop"  or  "fair  house"  is  one  that  employs 
union  workers  under  union  conditions;  while  an  "unfair  shop"  or 
"unfair  house"  does  not.  A  "fair  man"  is  one  who  belongs  to  a 
union;  an  "unfair  man"  is  a  non-unionist.  The  word  "foul"  is  still 
occasionally  used  in  the  sense  of  "unfair" — as  for  example,  "foul 
shop,"  "foul  man,"  etc.  (See  FAIR  LIST;  UNFAIR  LIST.) 

Fair  Day's  Pay.     See  FAIR  WAGE. 

Fair  Day's  Work.  Like  its  companion  term,  FAIR  WAGE  or 
"fair  day's  pay,"  this  phrase  is  too  relative  and  abstract  to  permit 
of  precise  definition.  As  an  employer's  standard,  it  may  be  either 
(i)  the  amount  of  work  which  he  personally  and  arbitrarily  fixes  as 
a  "fair"  standard;  (2)  the  amount  produced  by  the  most  proficient 
worker  in  his  employ — sometimes  a  professional"  speeder  "or  "pacer  " ; 
(3)  an  amount  determined  by  careful  averaging  of  past  shop  records 
for  the  entire  working  force.  As  a  worker's  standard,  it  may  also  be 
a  purely  personal  and  arbitrary  one;  or  it  may  be  an  amount  deter- 
mined by  collective  understanding  after  weighing  all  the  facts  and 
factors  connected  with  the  particular  work  to  be  done.  In  any 
of  the  above  cases,  however,  what  is  considered  "fair"  by  one  side 
might  be  counted  grossly  "unfair"  by  the  other.  Unless  determined 
by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  there  is  little  chance  of  fixing  a  standard 
acceptable  to  both  sides.  (See  PRODUCTION  STANDARDS.) 

Fair  List.  As  sometimes  published  or  otherwise  circulated 
by  trade  unions,  this  is  a  list  of  employers  in  a  specified  town  or 
district  who  comply  with  union  regulations  and  conform  to  union 
conditions.  In  a  general  way  it  corresponds,  on  the  trade  union  side, 
to  the  employers'  WHITELIST.  (See  UNFAIR  LIST.) 

Fair  Wage.  As  far  as  it  is  possible  to  frame  any  definition 
of  so  relative  and  abstract  a  term,  the  following  (quoted  from  Tead 
and  Metcalf's  "Personnel  Administration")  is  perhaps  as  satis- 
factory as  any  other:  "A  fair  wage  is  one  which,  in  relation  to  the 
work  agreed  upon,  under  existing  circumstances,  with  the  then  avail- 
able facts  and  taking  account  of  all  active  factors,  the  interested 
parties  agree  to  be  reasonable,  possible,  and  expedient."  As  officially 
used,  the  term  "fair  wage"  may  mean,  in  the  United  States,  either 
a  LIVING  WAGE  or  a  wage  established  by  the  highest  rate  of  payment 
for  the  particular  kind  of  work  in  a  particular  industry;  in  England 
and  Canada  it  generally  means  the  prevailing  rate  of  wages  for  a 
specified  kind  of  work  in  a  specified  industry.  (See  FAIR  WAGES 
CLAUSE;  FAIR  DAY'S  WORK.) 

[163] 


Fair  Wages  Clause.  Under  a  clause  adopted  by  Parliament 
in  1909,  it  is  provided  in  all  contracts  made  by  the  British  govern- 
ment, and  in  the  majority  of  those  made  by  the  local  authorities, 
that  the  contractor  must  pay  rates  of  wages  and  observe  hours  of 
labor  not  less  favorable  than  those  commonly  recognized  by  employ- 
ers and  trade  societies  in  the  trade  and  district  where  the  work  is 
carried  out.  The  contractor  who  sub-lets  his  work  is  made  respon- 
sible for  the  observance  of  the  fair  wages  clause  by  the  sub-contractor. 

Familistere.  A  famous  LABOR  COPARTNERSHIP  society  at 
Guise,  France.  It  was  started  in  1859,  as  a  community  settlement, 
by  Jean  Baptiste  Godin,  a  French  socialist  and  wealthy  iron  manu- 
facturer. In  addition  to  the  workshops,  there  are  homes  for  the  work- 
people, stores,  hospital,  nurseries,  theatre,  and  other  buildings; 
all  belonging  to  the  society  and  managed  on  a  copartnership  basis. 

Family  Budget.  The  necessary  expenses  of  a  family  over  a 
given  length  of  time.  The  determination  by  labor  statisticians 
of  a  "standard"  family  budget,  based  on  a  system  of  averages  for 
a  particular  locality  at  a  particular  time,  is  a  necessary  preliminary 
to  the  fixing  of  a  MINIMUM  WAGE.  There  are  various  "levels"  upon 
which  such  a  standard  budget  may  be  calculated — the  MINIMUM 

SUBSISTENCE    LEVEL,    the    MINIMUM    COMFORT    LEVEL,    etc.       With    a 

given  level  in  mind,  the  process  involves  two  inquiries:  (i)  The 
determining  of  a  "quantity  budget,"  i.e.,  the  number  or  quantity 
of  the  various  things  necessary  to  maintain  the  living  level  referred 
to;  and  (2)  the  ascertaining  of  a  "cost  budget,"  i.e.,  the  total  cost  of 
such  numbers  or  quantities  at  prevailing  prices.  Such  budgets  are 
usually  calculated  for  what  is  known  as  a  "standard  family"  of  five 
persons,  consisting  of  husband,  wife,  and  three  dependent  children 
below  the  age  of  fourteen.  (See  ENGEL'S  LAW  OP  FAMILY  EXPEND- 
ITURE.) 

Family  or  Household  System.  The  first  or  original  stage  in 
modern  INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION  is  commonly  so  called.  At  this  stage, 
according  to  W.  J.  Ashley,  "there  is  no  separate  body  of  professional 
craftsmen  at  all;  where  all  that  can  be  called  'industry,'  as  distin- 
guished from  agriculture,  is  carried  on  within  the  household  group, 
for  the  satisfaction  of  its  own  needs,  by  persons  whose  main  business 
is  the  cultivation  of  the  land  or  the  care  of  flocks.  The  main  activities 
of  all  except  the  fighting  class  are  still  in  this  stage  preponderantly 
agricultural;  but  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  make  their  own  clothes 
and  furniture  and  utensils,  and  there  is  practically  no  outside  'mar- 

[164] 


ket'  for  their  manufactures."     (See  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMY;  FEUD- 
ALISM.) 

Family  Wage.  Considering  the  family,  rather  than  the  indi- 
vidual, as  an  economic  unit,  this  term  denotes  the  total  income  of  a 
family  several  members  of  which  are  wage-earners.  The  "family 
wage"  is  an  important  factor  in  keeping  down  the  general  wage 
level.  According  to  the  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON 
INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS,  "all  experience  has  shown  that  in  the  end 
the  father's  wages*are  reduced  by  about  the  amount  that  the  children 
earn.  .  .  .  Examination  of  the  wages  in  different  industries  corrobo- 
rates the  theory  that  in  those  industries,  such  as  textiles,  where  women 
and  children  can  be  largely  utilized,  the  wages  of  men  are  extremely 
low."  (See  FAMILY  BUDGET.) 

Farm  Labor.    See  AGRICULTURAL  LABOR. 

Farmer -Labor  Party.  Formed  at  Chicago  in  July,  1920, 
after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  fusion  between  the  NATIONAL 
LABOR  PARTY,  the  NON-PARTISAN  LEAGUE,  and  a  liberal  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  "Committee  of  Forty-Eight."  As  finally  consti- 
tuted, the  Farmer-Labor  Party  consists  mainly  of  members  of  the 
former  National  Labor  Party,  reinforced  by  various  farmers'  organi- 
zations. The  Party  put  a  national  ticket  in  the  field  for  the  presi- 
dential election  of  November,  1920,  polling  nearly  300,000  votes, 
and  adopted  a  platform  similar  in  most  respects  to  that  of  the  Na- 
tional Labor  Party. 

Farming  Out.  In  an  industrial  sense  this  term  is  perhaps 
most  commonly  used  in  designation  of  the  arrangement,  particularly 
prevalent  in  the  garment  trades,  by  which  all  or  part  of  a  manufac- 
turing process  is  assigned  to  home  workers  instead  of  being  carried 
on  in  a  factory  or  workshop.  (See  HOME  WORK;  HOME  FINISHING; 
PIN  MONEY  WORKERS.) 

Fascisti.  An  Italian  "patriotic"  organization  which  has 
sprung  up  as  a  result  of  the  revolutionary  political-industrial  con- 
ditions in  Italy  since  the  armistice  of  1918.  The  Fascisti,  which  until 
about  the  close  of  1920  was  confined  to  a  small  "bitter-ender"  nation- 
alist organization  in  Romagna  and  Tuscany,  is  now  a  nation-wide 
organization  with  branches  in  nearly  every  city  and  village  in  Italy. 
The  leaders  claim  2,000,000  members.  Squads  are  prepared  at  any 
moment  to  undertake  any  violence  at  command.  Organized  mili- 
tarily, it  is  a  sort  of  Ku  Klux  Klan,  owing  military  obedience  to  a 
12  [ 165  ] 


local  general,  who  is  responsible  to  the  commander  in  chief,  Musso- 
lini, an  ex-Socialist  editor  of  Milan,  who  maintains  a  permanent 
staff.  The  Fascisti  are  composed  chiefly  of  students,  former  soldiers, 
and  shopkeepers,  led  by  intellectuals  and  idealists,  but  because  of 
the  violent  nature  of  their  programme  they  include  many  rowdies 
and  gunmen  from  the  worst  strata  of  society.  The  method  of  the 
Fascisti  is  intimidation  of  all  organizations  with  revolutionary  tend- 
encies, and  of  their  leaders  and  members.  It  is  now  virtually  im- 
possible in  Italy  for  communist,  socialist,  or  labor  union  leaders  to 
call  or  hold  public  meetings.  The  Fascisti  are  often  supported  by 
government  troops,  who  preserve  an  appearance  of  neutrality  but 
arrest  the  communists  who  resist  the  Fascisti. 

Fat.    See  CLICKING  SYSTEM. 

Father  of  the  Chapel.    See  CHAPEL;  SHOP  STEWARD. 

Fatigue.  One  of  the  most  important  factors  in  industrial 
operations,  and  also  one  of  the  most  ignored.  Industrial  fatigue, 
according  to  one  definition,  is  "a  diminished  efficiency  of  the  organism 
occurring  after  labor  and  partly  dependent  upon  it";  in  another 
definition,  it  is  "the  sum  of  the  results  of  activity  which  show  them- 
selves in  diminished  capacity  for  doing  work."  Prolonged  or  exces- 
sive effort,  according  to  Dr.  E.  M.  Bogardus,  in  his  book  on  "The 
Relation  of  Fatigue  to  Industrial  Accidents,"  has  two  important 
physiological  effects:  (i)  An  actual  exhaustion  of  the  energy-yielding 
material  in  the  muscles;  and  (2)  the  formation  of  various  fatigue 
substances  which  exert  a  poisonous  and  paralyzing  effect  upon  the 
whole  organism,  particularly  the  nervous  system.  The  latter  is  the 
more  important  of  the  two,  and  accounts  for  a  considerable  percentage 
of  all  industrial  accidents.  Fatigue,  with  all  its  resultant  dangers 
and  disadvantages,  is  especially  incident  to  NIGHT  WORK,  OVERTIME 
work,  and  SPEEDING  UP.  Given  adequate  equipment,  efficient  admin- 
istration of  the  plant,  and  a  proper  spirit  among  the  employees, 
it  is  (quite  aside  from  its  larger  social  implications)  the  greatest 
single  obstacle  to  maximum  output.  Fatigue  diminishes  output  not 
only  directly,  but  indirectly,  by  increasing  accidents  and  the  propor- 
,  tion  of  spoiled  work,  and  by  causing  sickness  and  absences  of  em- 
ployees. "Fatigue  costs,"  it  has  been  said,  "may  be  expressed  in 
terms  of  the  effect  upon  health,  longevity,  safety,  labor  supply, 
employment  stability,  industrial  contentment,  productive  efficiency 
[ — i.e.,  alertness,  speed,  accurate  work,  minimum  waste — as  well  as 
[output  and  profits."  It  has  been  estimated  by  a  recent  writer  on  this 

[166] 


subject  that  there  is  a  loss  because  of  fatigue  of  twenty  cents  per 
day  per  year  for  each  employee,  which  would  reach  the  staggering 
total  loss  to  the  nation,  for  the  40,000,000  workers  of  the  United 
States,  of  approximately  two  and  one-half  billion  dollars  a  year. 
The  term  "overstrain"  is  often  used  in  a  sense  generally  synony- 
mous with  fatigue.  (See  OVERWORK  ;  FATIGUE  STUDY  ;  JOB  ANALYSIS  ; 
LABOR  AUDIT.) 

Fatigue  Study.  The  systematic  investigation  of  the  effects 
of  working  conditions  and  hours  of  labor  upon  the  physical  and 
mental  condition  of  workers.  Fatigue  study  is  often  included  among 
the  specific  functions  of  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

Federaci6n  Libre.  See  PORTO  RICAN  FREE  FEDERATION  OF 
WORKERS. 

Federaci6n  Obrera  Regional  Argentina  (Argentine  Feder- 
ation of  Labor).  Founded  in  1901,  as  a  national  trade  union  organi- 
zation of  non-political  character.  It  has  been  involved  in  numerous 
strikes,  in  which  many  lives  were  lost,  and  has  met  with  governmental 
repression  on  several  occasions.  In  1920  the  Federation  had  an 
affiliated  membership  of  70,000. 

Federal  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations.  A  body 
created  by  act  of  Congress  in  August,  1912,  for  the  principal  purpose 
of  inquiring  into  existing  industrial  conditions  and  relations  and  the 
causes  of  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST  in  the  United  States.  The  Commission 
consisted  of  nine  members,  appointed  by  the  President,  three  of 
whom  were  employers  and  three  representatives  of  labor.  With  the 
aid  of  a  large  staff  of  expert  investigators,  and  by  the  examination 
of  witnesses  representing  every  possible  point  of  view  on  industrial 
affairs  and  relations,  the  Commission  made  an  exhaustive  investiga- 
tion in  the  field  assigned  to  it.  The  evidence  presented  was  published 
in  eleven  large  volumes  in  1916.  No  unanimous  report  was  agreed 
upon  by  the  Commission,  which  separated  into  two  groups  issuing 
separate  reports  and  recommendations.  What  is  known  as  the  "staff 
report"  or  the  "Manly  report"  was  signed  by  four  members,  while 
the  " Commons-Harriman  report"  was  signed  by  five  members — 
in  each  case,  however,  with  separate  comments  or  reservations  by 
most  of  the  individual  members. 

Federal  Industrial  Commission.  A  body  of  eighteen  mem- 
bers created  by  act  of  Congress  in  June,  1898.  The  duties  of  the 
Commission  and  the  scope  of  its  inquiries  are  indicated  in  the  follow- 
ing sections  of  the  creating  act:  (i)  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this 

[167] 


commission  to  investigate  questions  pertaining  to  IMMIGRATION, 
to  labor,  to  agriculture,  to  manufacturing,  and  to  business,  and  to 
report  to  Congress  and  to  suggest  such  legislation  as  it  may  deem 
best  upon  these  subjects."  (2)  "It  shall  furnish  such  information 
and  suggest  such  laws  as  may  be  made  a  basis  for  uniform  legislation 
by  the  various  States  of  the  Union,  in  order  to  harmonize  conflicting 
interests  and  to  be  equitable  to  the  laborer,  the  employer,  the  pro- 
ducer, and  the  consumer. "  The  Report  of  the  Commission,  published 
1901-2  by  the  Government  Printing  Office  in  nineteen  volumes,  con- 
tains a  mass'of  material  of  the  highest  value  relating  to  labor  organiza- 
tion, labor  policies,  etc.,  in  the  United  States. 

Federal  Labor  Union.  A  form  of  local  labor  organization 
within  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  consisting  of  seven  or 
more  wage-earners  in  various  crafts  or  industries  who  are  not  mem- 
bers of  any  other  body  affiliated  with  the  A.  F.  of  L.  The  main 
function  of  a  federal  labor  union  is  to  gather  and  hold  together 
scattered  local  workers  in  different  crafts  or  trades,  until  the  forma- 
tion of  LOCAL  TRADE  UNIONS  is  possible  or  until  the  separate  crafts 
are  nationally  organized — in  other  words,  to  serve  as  a  recruiting 
station.  Federal  labor  unions  are  chartered  by  and  affiliate  directly 
with  the  A.  F.  of  L.,  which  bears  the  same  relation  to  them  as  does 
a  national  or  international  union  to  its  local  branches.  They  are 
designated  by  number — e.g.,  "Federal  Labor  Union  No.  15938." 
(See  MIXED  LOCAL.) 

Federal  Plan.    See  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION;  LEITCH  PLAN. 
Federated  Press  League.     See  LABOR  PRESS. 

Federation.  In  labor  terminology,  an  alliance  of  a  group  of  in- 
dependent unions  in  one  or  several  industries,  covering  either  a  single 
locality,  a  district,  a  country,  or  the  world.  Ordinarily  the  process 
of  federation  implies  a  somewhat  loose  connection  as  contrasted  with 
AMALGAMATION,  the  purpose  of  the  alliance  being  usually  mutual 
support  in  disputes,  the  adjustment  of  mutual  differences  as  to 
JURISDICTION,  the  furthering  of  propaganda  work,  etc.;  and  each 
union  in  such  an  alliance  as  a  rule  remains  fully  autonomous.  But 
some  federations  have  become  virtually  a  single  self-governing  and 
negotiating  body, — as  for  example,  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great 
Britain,  which  acts  for  the  whole  industry  on  national  issues,  as  if 
it  were  an  amalgamated  union.  In  fact,  as  G.  D.  H.  Cole  points  out, 
"federations  of  almost  every  degree  of  intensity  exist:  and  it  is  never 

[168] 


possible,  without  particular  study  of  each  case,  to  discover  what  the 
mere  fact  of  federation  implies.  Some  federations  are  merely  polit- 
ical, some  in  practice  concern  themselves  almost  solely  with  DEMAR- 
CATION disputes;  others  are  regarded  by  their  promoters  merely  as 
steps  to  amalgamation,  and  yet  others  are  the  real  centres  of  indus- 
trial action.  Their  efficiency  depends  partly  on  their  constitution 
and  powers,  and  partly  on  the  nature  of  the  industry  which  they 
cover."  (See  AFFILIATION;  INDUSTRY  FEDERATION;  FEDERATION 
D'INDUSTRIE;  FEDERAZIONE  DEI  MESTIERE.) 

F6d6ration  d'Industrie.  In  France,  a  national  FEDERATION 
of  all  the  SYNDICATS,  or  local  trade  unions,  in  a  single  industry. 
Most  of  the  national  labor  organizations  are  of  this  type;  the  craft 
federations  (federations  de  metier]  having  gradually  disappeared 
since  1906,  after  which  date  they  were  forbidden  affiliation  with  the 
CONFEDERATION  GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL.  Inside  the  national  fed- 
erations, the  constituent  syndicats  are  generally  fully  autonomous 
and  are  able  to  seize  any  favorable  moment  for  a  strike  or  other  local 
action,  without  consulting  the  central  body.  The  role  of  the  Feder- 
ations is  "to  organize  and  strengthen  the  syndicats,  to  undertake 
campaigns  of  a  general  kind,  and  to  reinforce  the  resistance  to  the 
employer."  They  are,  in  short,  mainly  organs  of  coordination  and 
not  of  control.  But  there  are  some  important  exceptions  to  this 
autonomous  system.  Some  of  the  national  organizations  are  known 
as  Syndicats  Nationaux;  these,  as  a  rule,  possess  more  highly  cen- 
tralized powers  than  the  Federations  and  are  therefore  more  formi- 
dable fighting  bodies. 

Federation  de  Metier.  See  FEDERATION  D'INDUSTRIE;  SYN- 
DICAT. 

Federation  des  Bourses  du  Travail.  See  BOURSES  DU 
TRAVAIL. 

Federation  of  Organized  Trades  and  Labor  Unions.  See 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

Federation  of  Trade  Unions  of  Western  Japan.  See 
JAPANESE  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Federazione  del  Mestiere.  The  national  federations  of 
trades  in  Italy,  each  representing  the  various  labor  organizations 
in  a  single  national  industry,  are  so  called.  Every  local  branch  of 
one  of  these  trade  federations  is  affiliated  with  its  local  CAMERA  DEL 
LAVORO  (chamber  of  labor) ;  while  the  national  bodies  are  themselves 

[169] 


affiliated,  for  the  most  part,  in  either  the  CONFEDERATIONS  GENERALE 
DEL  LAVORO  or  the  UNIONE  SYNDICALE  ITALIANA. 

Fellow  Servant  Laws.  Those  state  or  national  statutes 
which  modify  or  abolish  the  common-law  principle  known  as  the 
"fellow  servant  rule"  or  COMMON  EMPLOYMENT  DOCTRINE,  under 
EMPLOYER'S  LIABILITY,  are  generally  so  called.  (See  SUPERIOR 
SERVANT  DOCTRINE.) 

Fellow  Servant  Rule.  See  EMPLOYER'S  LIABILITY;  FELLOW 
SERVANT  LAWS;  COMMON  EMPLOYMENT  DOCTRINE. 

Fellowship  Piece  Work.  A  form  of  COOPERATIVE  PIECE 
WORK  often  practiced  in  British  engineering  shops.  It  is  thus  de- 
scribed by  G.  D.  H.  Cole:  "In  practically  all  engineering  districts 
the  recognized  basis  for  collective  piece-work  is  that  all  balances 
should  be  paid  through  the  office  in  proportion  to  time-rates  and 
hours  worked.  This  may  be  done,  but,  when  they  have  come  outside 
the  office,  a  group  of  men  may  prefer  to  'pool'  earnings,  and  redis- 
tribute the  balances  on  some  mutually  arranged  basis,  usually  that 
of  complete  equality,  irrespective  of  the  hours  worked.  This  '  fellow- 
ship '  system  is  usually  confined  to  men  of  the  same  trade,  and  often 
to  a  small  group  of  men  who  choose  to  work  together  upon  it.  It  is, 
of  course,  purely  voluntary,  and  'pools'  and  'fellowships'  readily 
form  and  dissolve.  A  particular  application  of  this  system  arises 
in  shops  in  which  some  jobs  are  being  done  on  piece-work  and  some 
on  day-rates.  In  such  cases  the  men  in  the  shops  sometimes  arrange 
for  certain  men  to  do  all  the  time-work  jobs,  but  for  all  alike  to  share 
in  the  'pool'  at  the  week's  end." 

Feudalism.  A  name  given  to  the  social  system  that  prevailed 
in  northern  and  western  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  that 
completely  disappeared  only  with  the  final  freeing  of  the  serfs  in 
Russia  in  1863.  Its  main  peculiarity  was  that  the  bulk  of  the  land 
was  divided  into  "feuds"  or  "fiefs,"  held  by  their  owners  on  condi- 
tion of  the  performance  of  certain  duties,  especially  military  services, 
to  a  superior  lord — sometimes  the  sovereign  of  the  country.  The 
landholders  divided  their  holdings  among  lesser  nobles,  who  in  turn 
allotted  them  to  the  serfs  or  peasantry,  the  latter  doing  all  the  work 
of  cultivation  and  thus  maintaining  the  various  classes  of  tenants 
and  lords  above  them.  Social  relations  were  fixed  according  to  the 
varying  status  of  the  landholders.  Feudalism  was  fatally  weakened 
by  the  substitution  of  money  payments  for  dues  rendered  in  service 

[170] 


on  the  land,  and  was  finally  swept  away  through  the  growth  of 
industry  and  commerce.     (See  SERFDOM;  BENEVOLENT  FEUDALISM.) 

Final  Appeal  Court.    See  BRITISH  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZA- 
TION. 

Finance    Committee.    See    TRADE    UNION    GOVERNMENT — 
LOCAL. 

Finances  of  Trade  Unions.  In  most  of  the  trade  unions  of 
Great  Britain  there  seems  to  be  complete  community  of  funds 
between  the  local  BRANCHES.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  remark  that  when 
the  local  clubs  began  to  draw  together  into  national  unions  it  was 
assumed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  any  cash  in  possession  of  any 
branch  was  available  for  the  needs  of  any  other  branch.  Before  a 
central  authority  was  established,  the  several  local  bodies  were  ex- 
pected spontaneously  to  send  their  surplus  moneys  to  the  aid  of  any 
district  engaged  in  a  strike.  When  there  came  to  be  a  common 
treasury  the  local  treasuries  were  treated  as  parts  of  it,  and  as  col- 
lectively composing  it.  This  involves,  of  course,  uniform  contribu- 
tions from  all  the  members  throughout  the  organization.  "The 
financial  evolution  of  the  American  unions  has  been  different.  Na- 
tional treasuries  have  been  established,  not  by  the  assumption  of 
centralized  control  over  the  local  treasuries,  but  by  exacting  a 
definite  contribution  from  each  local  union,  in  proportion  to  its  mem- 
bership, and  placing  the  resulting  fund  in  the  immediate  possession 
of  the  national  officers.  In  most  of  our  national  trade  unions  each 
LOCAL  is  substantially  as  free  to  fix  the  payments  of  its  own  members 
as  if  it  had  no  connection  with  a  national  body.  The  regular  methods 
by  which  the  national  organization  replenishes  its  treasury  are  a 
CHARTER  FEE  on  the  organization  of  new  locals,  and  a  PER  CAPITA 
TAX  of  so  much  per  week  or  per  month,  levied  on  the  locals  in  propor- 
tion to  their  membership.  In  some  unions  a  part  of  each  INITIATION 
FEE  is  also  payable  to  the  national  treasury.  Another  very  common 
source  of  revenue  is  the  profit  made  on  the  sale  of  stationery  and 
supplies  to  the  locals."  The  revenue  from  fines  for  infractions  of 
DISCIPLINE  should  also  be  mentioned.  Several  unions,  including 
some  of  the  strongest,  have  uniform  initiation  fees  and  MEMBERSHIP 
DUES  throughout,  and  treat  the  total  receipts  substantially  as  a 
common  fund,  after  the  manner  of  the  British  unions,  or  divide 
them  between  the  national  treasury  and  the  local  treasuries  accord- 
ing to  some  fixed  rule.  "  In  some  unions  all  the  receipts  of  the  national 
treasury  go  into  one  general  fund.  In  others  they  are  divided  into 

[171] 


special  funds  for  particular  purposes.  The  two  commonest  special 
funds  are  that  for  strikes  and  that  for  sick  and  death  BENEFITS. 
Particular  fractions  of  the  receipts  are  sometimes  set  aside  for  other 
purposes,  such  as  the  payment  of  various  insurance  benefits,  the 
support  of  the  official  journal,  and  the  payment  of  the  expenses  of 
conventions.  The  financial  officers  of  the  national  organizations 
are,  almost  without  exception,  required  to  give  bonds  signed  by  some 
surety  company.  The  cost  of  the  bond  is  regularly  paid  by  the  or- 
ganization. It  is  very  common,  also,  to  limit  the  amount  of  money 
which  the  secretary  or  the  treasurer  may  retain  in  his  hands,  and  to 
require  that  all  above  a  certain  small  maximum  be  deposited  in  some 
bank."  The  funds  in  the  hands  of  local  treasurers  do  not  usually 
exceed  a  few  hundred  dollars,  and  those  in  the  hands  of  a  national 
treasurer  seldom  exceed  a  few  thousand.  The  great  accumulations 
of  some  of  the  British  unions,  amounting  in  some  cases  to  a  million 
or  a  million  and  a  half  dollars,  have  few  parallels  in  America.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  only  resources  of  the  unions  when  trouble 
comes  are  voluntary  contributions  and  SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS.  In 
a  great  strike,  which  arouses  widespread  interest,  voluntary  contri- 
butions are  sometimes  a  more  important  source  of  revenue  than 
might  be  supposed.  The  only  means  of  enforcing  the  payment  of 
trade  union  revenues  is,  of  course,  suspension  or  expulsion  from  the 
union.  Some  unions  emphasize  the  penalty  by  charging  more  for 
reinstatement  than  for  original  admission.  In  most  cases  members 
are  liable  to  suspension  when  they  are  in  default  for  from  three  to 
six  months'  dues.  The  national  union  may  suspend  a  local  union 
or  cancel  its  charter  if  its  per  capita  tax  or  assessments  fall  behind 
for  a  period  which  varies  in  different  organizations  from  two  months 
to  a  year,  but  is  oftenest  put  at  six  months.  (See  FINANCIER  ;  STAMP 
RECEIPT  SYSTEM;  CHECK-OFF  SYSTEM;  COLLECTORS;  MEMBERS  IN 
GOOD  STANDING;  MUTUAL  INSURANCE;  STRIKE  FUND.) 

Financier.  In  some  unions,  notably  the  Cigar  Makers' 
International  Union,  where  the  union  funds  are  held  by  the  several 
LOCALS  instead  of  being  deposited  in  a  central  treasury,  this  is  an 
official  of  the  central  organization  who  goes  from  local  to  local, 
generally  arriving  unexpectedly,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 
financial  accounts  and  transactions  of  the  locals.  In  the  Iron 
Molders'  Union,  the  financier  is  an  official  who  keeps  the  books  of 
the  national  association  and  maintains  general  oversight  over  those 
of  the  local  branches.  (See  DEPUTY  SYSTEM.) 

Finks.     See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

[172] 


Finnish  Trade  Union  Federation.  See  SUOMEN  AMMAT- 
TIJARJESTO. 

Fire  Boss.    See  MINE  MANAGER. 

First  Inspection.  By  this  term,  commonly  used  in  connection 
with  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  is  meant  the  minute  inspection  of 
the  first  piece  to  be  produced  in  a  "lot  order,"  rather  than  waiting 
for  the  entire  lot  to  be  finished  before  it  is  inspected;  the  object 
being  to  detect  faults  at  the  beginning  of  the  operation  and  before 
more  than  one  piece  can  be  spoiled. 

First  Internationale.     See  INTERNATIONALE. 

Fixed  Group  Demand  Theory.    See  LUMP  OF  LABOR  THEORY. 

Floaters.    See  MIGRATORY  LABOR. 

Fluidity  of  Labor.    See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 

Flunkey.  In  labor  slang,  a  migratory  worker  who  does  odd 
jobs  around  a  labor  camp — such  as  fire-building,  helping  the  camp 
cook,  cleaning  out  bunk-houses,  etc.  The  terms  "bull  cook"  and 
"crumb  boss"  are  often  used  in  a  similar  sense. 

Fodder  Basis.    See  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL.' 

Fogger.    See  LITTLE  MASTER. 

Folded  Arms  Strike.    See  GREVE  AUX  BRAS  CROISES. 

Fonds  Nationale  de  Caisse.  A  Belgian  organization,  estab- 
lished by  royal  decree  in  January,  1921,  for  the  collection  and  dis- 
tribution of  sums  of  money  to  aid  the  unemployed,  in  case  of  indus- 
trial crises,  who  are  affiliated  with  the  officially  recognized  "Caisses 
de  Ch6mage,"  which  are  regularly  established  organizations  for  the 
aid  of  the  unemployed.  The  Fonds  Nationale  de  Caisse  is  to  be 
maintained  by  government  subventions,  by  subscriptions,  and  by 
voluntary  contributions  from  employers  and  from  the  public.  It  is 
to  be  administered  by  a  council  composed  of  a  president  and  from 
six  to  nine  administrators  who  are  to  be  named  by  the  king  for  a 
term  of  three  years. 

Force  Anarchists.  Those  persons  who  commit  individual 
acts  of  violence  in  the  name  of  ANARCHISM.  Such  persons  are  re- 
pudiated by  the  great  majority  of  anarchists,  who  are  either  opposed 
to  the  use  of  force  in  any  form  and  under  any  conditions  or  would 

[i73] 


employ  it  solely  as  a  mass  weapon  of  the  working  classes.     Also 
called  "anarchists  of  the  deed." 

Force  Report.  As  an  essential  factor  in  computing  percentages 
of  LABOR  TURNOVER,  this  is  a  statement  of  the  number  of  persons 
actually  working  on  a  given  day  in  a  given  establishment,  as  shown 
by  attendance  records. 

Forced  Labor.  See  NATIVE  LABOR;  PEONAGE;  INVOLUNTARY 
SERVITUDE. 

Foremen.     See  SUPERVISORY  WORKERS. 

Fortbildungsschule.  PART-TIME  SCHOOLS  are  so  called  in 
Germany,  where  they  have  been  more  highly  developed  as  a  part 
of  the  public  educational  system  than  in  any  other  country.  The 
attendance  of  children  below  a  certain  age  limit  is  compulsory, 
and  the  instruction  is  largely  along  vocational  lines. 

Forty -Eight  Hour  Week.  The  demand  for  a  working  week 
limited  to  forty-eight  hours  usually  accompanies  the  demand  for  the 
EIGHT-HOUR  DAY,  as  ensuring  one  day  of  rest  for  the  worker  during 
the  week.  Sometimes,  however,  it  replaces  the  demand  for  the  eight- 
hour  day,  because  greater  elasticity  is  possible  in  arranging  the  hours 
of  work;  and  the  adoption  of  a  half  holiday,  or  even  a  whole  holiday, 
on  Saturday  or  some  other  week-day  is  made  feasible  by  longer  work 
periods  than  eight  hours  on  other  days.  The  principle  of  the  forty- 
eight  hour  week,  in  connection  with  the  eight-hour  day,  was  officially 
adopted  in  the  draft  conventions  of  the  first  GENERAL  LABOR  CON- 
FERENCE OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS. 

Forty -Four  Hour  Week.  A  working  week  limited  to  forty- 
four  hours  is  often  urged  as  a  necessary  item  in  any  programme  for 
humanizing  labor  conditions.  As  a  rule,  such  a  working  week  is 
divided  into  five  eight-hour  days,  with  a  four-hour  Saturday,  and  a 
Sunday  of  rest.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  wholly  divided  among 
five  days,  with  full  holidays  on  the  sixth  and  seventh  days. 

Forty -Hour  Week.  As  generally  understood,  this  is  a  working 
week  of  five  eight-hour  days,  with  full  holidays  on  the  remaining 
two  days — usually  Saturday  and  Sunday.  The  forty-hour  week 
movement  has  made  considerable  headway  in  Australia  particularly. 

Foster  Report.  A  detailed  report  on  "Organized  Public 
Service  in  the  [British]  Building  Industry,"  prepared  by  a  subcom- 
mittee of  the  BUILDING  TRADES  PARLIAMENT  in  1919.  The  chairman 

[i74l 


of  this  subcommittee  was  Thomas  Foster.  The  report  deals  in  a 
thoroughgoing  manner  with  some  of  the  most  important  general 
problems  of  industry,  and  has  created  widespread  discussion.  (See 
LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT.) 

Foul  Man.     See  FAIR,  UNFAIR. 

Foul  Shop.    See  FAIR,  UNFAIR. 

Four-L's.    See  LOYAL  LEGION  OF  LOGGERS  AND  LUMBERMEN 

Four -Shift  System.     See  Six-HouR  DAY. 

Fourierism.  A  socialistic  scheme  of  cooperative  ownership, 
production,  and  distribution,  together  with  a  programme  of  associa- 
tive living,  formulated  by  a  French  socialist  writer,  F.  C.  M.  Fourier 
(1772-1837).  Fourier's  scheme  is  based  on  a  division  of  society 
into  departments  or  phalanges,  each  phalange  (consisting  of  about 
1600  persons)  inhabiting  a  phalanstere,  or  common  building,  with  a 
certain  portion  of  surrounding  land  for  cultivation.  The  conflict 
between  capitalist  and  worker  and  that  between  producer  and  con- 
sumer were  to  be  resolved  by  a  merging  of  the  interests  of  all  four 
into  that  of  the  individual  member  of  the  phalanstfrre,  who  became 
at  once  worker,  shareholder  in  a  stock  company,  and  business  direc- 
tor of  the  enterprise.  Fourierism  is  to  be  distinguished  from  SCIEN- 
TIFIC SOCIALISM  in  many  important  respects.  It  differs  from  COM- 
MUNISM in  that  it  does  not  contemplate  equality  in  labor  and  con- 
sumption. While  all  definite  experiments  based  on  Fourierism 
(several  were  tried  in  the  United  States  about  the  middle  of  the  last 
century)  have  been  unsuccessful,  its  influence  is  still  felt — particularly 
in  the  anarchist  movement.  (See  ASSOCIATION  ;  UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM.) 

Fourth  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL  WORKING  UNION 
OF  SOCIALIST  PARTIES. 

Foxing.    See  SMOOTING. 

Frame  or  Frame -Up.    See  PLANT. 

Fraternal  Delegates.  In  labor  conventions  or  congresses, 
these  are  delegates  from  foreign  labor  bodies,  or  from  home  organiza- 
tions unaffiliated  with  the  particular  body  in  convention.  They 
take  part  in  general  discussions,  but  usually  have  no  vote. 

Free  Laborers.  In  England,  this  term  is  commonly  used 
by  employers  and  others  in  designation  of  those  workers  who  are  not 

[i7Sl 


members  of  trade  unions,  and  who  "pledge  themselves  to  work 
amicably  with  others  whether  members  of  a  union  or  not."  They 
are  generally  known  among  British  unionists  by  the  less  euphemistic 
terms,  BLACKLEGS  and  SCABS.  A  large  number  of  these  workers 
are  affiliated  in  an  organization  called  the  "Free  Labor  Association." 

Free  Speech  Fights.  With  particular  reference  to  the  INDUS- 
TRIAL WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD,  this  term  refers  to  what  was  for 
several  years  an  important  part  of  I.  W.  W.  policy  and  tactics. 
Indeed,  the  organization's  dramatic  "free  speech  fights"  with  mu- 
nicipal authorities,  particularly  those  of  the  Pacific  slope,  have  at- 
tracted quite  as  much  attention  as  its  occasional  dramatic  strikes. 
A  definite  strategy  seems  to  have  been  followed  in  most  of  these 
struggles.  Whenever  the  I.  W.  W.  organizers  in  a  particular  town 
are  arrested  for  "incendiary  utterances,"  the  call  goes  out  to  all 
I.  W.  W.  locals  in  the  same  region  for  an  invasion  by  "foot-loose" 
members.  They  flock  into  the  fight  area,  are  usually  jailed  whole- 
sale by  the  local  police,  and  make  themselves  the  "guests"  of  the 
town  in  such  numbers  as  to  clog  the  machinery  of  municipal  adminis- 
tration and  cause  heavy  expense  to  the  local  tax-payers.  Since  1913 
free  speech  has  been  a  less  important  issue  with  the  I.  W.  W. 

Free  Trade  Unions.    See  GEWERKSCHAFTEN. 

Free  Workers'  Union  of  Germany.  See  FREIE  ARBEITER- 
UNION  DEUTSCHLANDS. 

Freedom  of  Contract.  In  regard  to  dealings  between  em- 
ployers and  workers,  this  term  denotes  "the  legal  right  of  every 
individual  to  make  such  a  bargain  for  the  purchase  or  sale  of  labor 
as  he  may  think  most  conducive  to  his  own  interest";  or,  in  the 
familiar  phraseology  of  employers,  "the  right  of  the  workingman  to 
work  for  whomever  he  pleases,  as  many  hours  a  day  as  he  wishes, 
and  for  whatever  wages  he  is  willing  to  accept."  The  right  to  "free- 
dom of  contract,"  as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  is  frequently 
invoked  in  opposition  to  all  legislative  efforts  in  the  United  States  to 
improve  the  wages,  hours,  or  conditions  of  the  working  class.  It  is 
also  the  favorite  incantation  of  opponents  of  trade  unionism,  who 
maintain  that  the  doctrine  is  nullified  by  such  trade  union  devices  as 
COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  and  the  CLOSED  SHOP.  But  the  essential 
point  in  the  whole  matter,  as  one  of  the  greatest  -of  living  jurists  has 
pointed  out,  is  the  simple  fact  that  "freedom  of  contract  begins 
where  there  is  equality  of  bargaining  power."  Without  equality,  or 
at  least  approximate  equality,  of  bargaining  power,  "freedom  of 

[176] 


contract"   becomes   a   self-evident   absurdity.      (See   WOMAN   IN 
INDUSTRY.) 

Freie  Arbeiter -Union  Deutschlands  (Free  Workers'  Union 
of  Germany).  The  title,  adopted  in  December,  1919,  of  the  central 
organization  of  German  syndicalist  associations,  representing  a  com- 
bined membership  on  the  date  above  mentioned  of  110,000.  As  this 
total  indicates,  SYNDICAL  SM  plays  but  a  small  part  in  the  German 
labor  movement.  Its  adherents  are  commonly  known  as  "localists." 
(See  GEWERKSCHAFTEN.) 

Freie  Gewerkschaften  (Free  Trade  Unions).  See  GEWERK- 
SCHAFTEN. 

French  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Law.  A  measure, 
enacted  in  1892,  which  provides  that  either  party  to  a  labor  dispute 
may  apply  to  the  juge  de  paix  of  the  canton,  who  informs  the  other 
party  of  the  application.  If  they  concur  within  three  days,  a  joint 
committee  of  CONCILIATION  is  formed  of  not  more  than  five  repre- 
sentatives of  each  party,  which  meets  in  the  presence  of  the  juge  de 
paix,  who,  however,  has  no  vote.  If  no  agreement  results  the  parties 
are  invited  to  appoint  ARBITRATORS.  If  such  arbitrators  are  appointed 
and  cannot  agree  on  an  umpire,  the  president  of  the  civil  tribunal 
appoints  an  umpire.  In  the  case  of  an  actual  strike,  in  the  absence 
of  an  application  from  either  party  it  is  the  duty  of  the  juge  de  paix 
to  invite  the  parties  to  proceed  to  conciliation  or  arbitration.  The 
results  of  the  action  of  the  juge  de  paix  and  of  the  conciliation  com- 
mittee are  placarded  by  the  mayors  of  the  communes  affected.  The 
law  leaves  the  parties  entirely  free  to  accept  or  reject  the  services  of 
the  juge  de  paix. 

French  Economic  Council  of  Labor.  See  CONSEIL  ECONO- 
MIQUE  DU  TRAVAIL. 

French  Federation  of  Christian  Workers.  See  FRENCH 
LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

French  General  Confederation  of  Labor.  See  CONFEDER- 
ATION GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL. 

French  Labor  Movement.  The  growth  of  trade  unionism 
is  comparatively  recent  in  France,  for  while  freedom  of  association 
was  recognized  by  ancient  French  law,  it  was,  except  for  short 
intervals,  denied  to  French  workmen  up  to  the  year  1860.  From  that 
time  to  1884  it  was  tolerated  and  there  was  a  slow  growth  in  work- 


men's  societies  up  to  1884,  when  a  law  was  passed  according  freedom 
of  association  to  both  employers  and  workers;  but  it  was  not  until 
i  go  i  that  these  rights  were  fully  granted.  Organization  has  always 
been  more  complete  among  employers  than  among  the  workers, 
though  since  1914  membership  in  employees'  federations  has  been 
increasing  rapidly,  that  of  the  CONFEDERATION  GENERALE  DU 
TRAVAIL  having  grown  from  about  500,000  in  1914  to  about  1,500,000 
in  1920.  The  national  FEDERATIONS  D'INDUSTRIE  and  national 
SYNDICATS  and  the  local  BOURSES  DU  TRAVAIL  which  make  up  the 
C.  G.  T.  are  mainly  composed  of  local  syndicats  rouges  (red  unions), 
devoted  largely  to  the  CLASS  STRUGGLE  and  the  abolition  of  the  WAGE 
SYSTEM.  Recent  affiliations  to  the  C.  G.  T.  are  the  Federations  of 
Civil  Servants,  which  include  the  Postal  Federation,  the  Federation 
of  Officeholders,  and  the  Federated  Union  of  State  Employees. 
An  organization  with  aims  somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the  C.  G.  T. 
is  the  recently-formed  amalgamation  of  four  organizations  of  agri- 
cultural workers,  called  the  National  Federation  of  Agricultural 
Laborers.  Not  all  of  the  workers'  organizations  in  France  are 
founded  on  the  principle  of  the  class  struggle,  however.  There  are 
the  so-called  syndicats  jaunes  (yellow  unions),  founded  in  1900  and 
working  to  better  the  conditions  of  the  workmen  by  law  and  uphold- 
ing the  entente  between  employees  and  employers;  the  recently 
formed  Confederation  Nationale  du  Travail,  which  has  approximately 
100,000  adherents,  largely  ex-soldiers,  and  which  stands  for  agree- 
ment between  "capital"  and  "labor"  and  against  the  struggle  of 
the  classes;  and  the  Federation  of  Christian  Workers,  with  a  member- 
ship of  140,000,  which  stands  for  the  defense  of  the  occupational 
interests  of  its  members.  Each  branch  of  the  French  labor  move- 
ment is  independent  or  autonomous;  that  is,  there  is  no  stable  tie 
connecting  the  trade  union,  socialist,  and  cooperative  groups,  and 
they  do  not  meet  except  in  special  definite  cases  to  plan  their  policy ; 
so  that  it  is  seldom  that  the  members  of  the  Socialist  Party  are  called 
upon  to  act  as  propagandists  of  trade  unionism  or  the  cooperative 
movement.  On  the  other  hand,  prominent  members  of  the  Socialist 
Party  have  a  large  part  in  determining  the  policy  of  the  C.  G.  T. 
through  their  membership  in  that  organization.  In  March,  1920, 
the  law  of  1884  in  regard  to  trade  unions  was  amended  to  extend 
the  civil  rights  of  unions.  The  additional  rights  granted  include  the 
ability  to  acquire  property,  the  guaranty  of  the  protection  of  the 
law  in  cases  of  direct  or  indirect  injury  to  the  collective  interests 
of  the  trade  they  represent,  protection  of  the  MARQUE  SYNDICAL 
(union  label),  right  to  form  cooperative  buying  and  selling  organiza- 

.[178] 


tions  for  their  members,  and  protection  from  seizure  of  property 
essential  to  the  business  of  the  unions.  The  general  tendency  in 
the  French  labor  movement,  as  represented  by  the  dominant  labor 
group  the  C.  G.  T.,  and  by  the  labor  leaders  within  the  Socialist 
Party  seem  to  be  to  subordinate  ordinary  working-c  ass  or 
trade  union  aims  to  the  furtherance  of  extreme  revolutionary  ideas. 
The  communistic  ideas  of  the  working  people  had  taken  root  before 
the  war,  and  had  been  most  strongly  evidenced  in  the  elections  of 
1914.  The  union  of  the  labor  leaders  with  the  other  parties  during 
the  war  in  the  Union  Sacree  for  the  common  defense  of  the  country 
silenced  for  a  time  the  aspirations  for  control  by  the  workers.  The 
war  ended,  and  the  need  for  united  action  being  past,  the  old  differ- 
ences reasserted  themselves,  augmented  by  the  economic  difficulties 
which  were  a  result  of  the  war  and  by  the  effects  of  the  Russian 
revolution.  But  for  the  present  at  least,  the  revolutionary  tendencies 
within  the  labor  movement  seem  well  under  the  control  of  the  govern- 
ment, which  is  backed  not  only  by  a  powerful  middle  class  but  by 
a  considerable  non-revolutionary  minority  among  the  workers.  (See 
CONSEIL  ECONOMIQUE  DU  TRAVAIL;  ElGHT-HoUR  DAY  IN  FRANCE; 
ASSOCIATIONS  OUVRIERES  DE  PRODUCTION;  BUREAUX  PARITAIRES; 
FRENCH  CONCILIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  LAW;  CONSEILS  DE  PRUD'- 
HOMMES;  MUTUALITE;  REFORMIST;  SOCIETES  COMPAGNONNIQUES; 
CHASSE  AUX  RENARD;  CODE  DU  TRAVAIL  ET  DE  LA  PREVOYANCE 
TRAVAIL;  CORPORATISME;  GREVE  AUX  BRAS  CROISES.) 

French  National  Federation  of  Agricultural  Laborers. 
See  FRENCH  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

French  National  Vocational  Schools.  See  ficoLES  NAT- 
IONALES  PROFESSIONALES. 

French  Superior  Council  of  Labor.  See  CONSEIL  SUPERIEUR 
DU  TRAVAIL. 

French  Trade  Union  Congress.  See  CONFEDERATION  G£N- 
ERALE  DU  TRAVAIL. 

French  Working -Men's  Associations  of  Production.     See 

ASSOCIATIONS  OUVRIERES  DE  PRODUCTION. 

Friendly  Benefits.     See  BENEFITS. 

Friendly  Societies.  Voluntary  mutual  thrift  and  insurance 
associations,  formed  mainly  among  the  manual  wage-earning  class. 
Such  associations  have  an  immense  combined  membership  in  Great 


Britain,  where  some  of  them  date  back  to  the  i;th  century.  Their 
principal  function  is  to  provide  financial  assistance  to  members 
during  illness,  or  to  their  families  in  case  of  death.  Similar  forms  of 
organization  in  the  United  States  are  usually  known  as  benevolent 
or  benefit  societies.  (See  NATIONAL  INSURANCE  ACT.) 

Friendly  Unionism.    See  UPLIFT  UNIONISM. 

Fringe  of  Unemployed.  The  excess  in  the  supply  of  avail- 
able workers  over  the  demand,  for  the  country  as  a  whole  or  for  any 
particular  locality,  at  any  given  time.  Though  varying  in  size  and 
shifting  in  character,  this  "fringe  of  unemployed"  (or  "margin  of 
idleness,"  as  it  is  sometimes  called)  is  an  integral  feature  of  modern 
INDUSTRIALISM.  (See  LABOR  SURPLUS  ;  RESERVE  OF  LABOR.) 

Fruit  Tramp.  A  nickname  commonly  applied  in  the  Western 
states  to  a  "casual"  worker  (often  a  member  of  the  I.  W.  W.)  who 
goes  about  from  place  to  place  rinding  short  spells  of  employment 
in  fruit-picking  operations. 

Full -Crew  Laws.  Owing  to  the  practice  of  railroads  in  con- 
tinually making  trains  longer  and  heavier,  without  proportionate 
increase  in  the  size  of  the  crews,  about  half  the  states  of  this  country 
have  enacted  legislation  requiring  train  crews  to  consist  of  a  specified 
number  of  men  for  trains  of  specified  length. 

Full  Pay.  In  the  most  usual  sense,  individual  WAGES  from 
which  no  deduction  has  been  made  for  time  when  the  worker  was 
idle  through  no  fault  of  his  own. 

Full  Time.  The  normal  number  of  working  hours  per  day  or 
week  established  by  custom,  by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  or  by  law 
for  a  particular  industry,  occupation,  or  indust  ial  plant — the  num- 
ber of  hours  the  employee  regularly  expects  to  work  and  the  employer 
expects  him  to  work.  (See  SHORT  TIME;  OVERTIME.) 

Full  Worker.  One  who  has  served  his  apprenticeship,  and  is 
entitled  to  regular  JOURNEYMAN  wages,  etc.,  in  his  trade. 

Functional  Democracy.  Advocates  of  GUILD  SOCIALISM  hold 
that  all  members  of  a  community  should  be  organized  according  to 
their  individual  functions  in  society.  As  producers  they  should  be 
members  of  the  "national  guild"  of  their  particular  trades,  these 
"national  guilds"  to  be  controlled  by  a  central  "council  of  guilds" 
or  guild  congress.  As  consumers,  they  should  be  members  of  the 
political  State,  whose  machinery  should  be  so  modified  as  not  only 

[180] 


to  look  after  their  interests  as  consumers  but  to  perform  other  social 
functions  as  well.  The  consumers  as  a  body  should  decide  what  and 
how  much  is  to  be  produced;  the  producers,  how  and  under  what 
conditions  production  is  to  be  carried  on.  It  should  be  the  joint 
function  of  both  bodies  to  determine  prices  and  distribution  of  in- 
come. Because  of  this  emphasis  upon  "organization  by  function," 
guild  socialism  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  "functional  democracy." 

Functional  Foremanship.  In  any  shop  system  of  SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEMENT,  the  worker's  activity  is  as  far  as  possible  confined 
strictly  to  actual  handling  of  the  machine  or  tool,  and  of  the  ma- 
terial only  as  far  as  necessary  to  apply  the  tool  to  it.  All  other  work 
is  the  function  of  management.  In  accordance  with  this  idea,  the 
TAYLOR  SYSTEM  involves  a  method  known  as  "functional  foreman- 
ship,"  by  which  "such  details  of  administration  as  determination  of 
the  sequence  of  operations,  machines,  tools,  and  methods  to  be  used, 
time  to  be  taken,  relative  importance  of  orders,  recording  of  opera- 
tions, instruction  of  workmen,  moving  of  materials,  and  mainte- 
nance of  equipment  and  tools,  are  the  special  functions  of  separate 
foremen,  each  of  whom  is  responsible  for  the  proper  handling  of 
his  detail  with  reference  to  a  varying  number  of  men,  and  all  of 
whom  bring  to  bear  their  specialized  knowledge  on  each  man." 
This  system  of  functional  foremanship  is  also  sometimes  called 
"divided  foremanship"  and  "functional  management."  (See  SINGLE 
FOREMANSHIP.) 

Functional  Management.    See  FUNCTIONAL  FOREMANSHIP. 

Funeral  Benefits.    See  DEATH  BENEFITS. 
13 


G.  F.  T.  U.    See  GENERAL  FEDERATION  OP  TRADE  UNIONS. 

Gaffer.  A  slang  term  used  by  British  workmen  in  designa- 
tion of  a  foreman  or  GANG  BOSS. 

Gain  Sharing.  As  evolved  and  named  by  Henry  R.  Towne, 
president  of  the  Yale  and  Towne  Manufacturing  Company,  this  is 
often  described  as  the  application  of  PROFIT  SHARING  to  the  separate 
departments  of  a  business  instead  of  to  the  business  as  a  whole,  the 
plan  being  based  upon  demonstrable  gains  in  the  efficiency  of  depart- 
ments as  shown  by  careful  accounting.  In  reality,  however,  it  be- 
longs to  those  related  forms  of  remuneration  in  addition  to  wages 
which  depend  upon  some  other  factor  than  net  profits.  Under  the 
Towne  system,  the  amount  of  the  additional  remuneration  is  propor- 
tionate to  the  "gain,"  or  saving  in  the  cost  of  production,  irrespective 
of  the  rate  of  profit  realized  by  the  employer.  Any  plan  of  wage 
payment  under  the  PREMIUM  BONUS  SYSTEM  is  sometimes  called 
"gain  sharing." 

Gang  Boss.  A  petty  foreman,  usually  one  in  charge  of  a  small 
group  of  workers  engaged  at  a  single  specialized  task.  (See  GAFFER  ; 
CHARGE-HAND.) 

Gang  Piece  Work.     See  COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK. 

Gantt  System.  This  term  is  sometimes  applied  to  a  general 
modification  of  the  TAYLOR  SYSTEM  of  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT, 
devised  by  H.  L.  Gantt,  one  of  Taylor's  associates;  sometimes  it  is 
used  with  specific  reference  to  the  method  of  wage  payment  that  is 
a  part  of  the  Gantt  plan.  Under  this  system,  as  described  by  Mr. 
Gantt,  "each  man  has  his  work  assigned  to  him  in  the  form  of  a 
TASK  to  be  done,  by  a  prescribed  method,  with  definite  appliances, 
and  to  be  completed  within  a  certain  time.  The  task  is  based  on  a 
detailed  investigation  by  a  trained  expert  of  the  best  method  of 
doing  the  work;  and  the  task-setter,  or  his  assistant,  acts  as  an 


instructor  to  teach  the  workmen  to  do  the^work  in  the  manner  and 
time  specified.  If  the  work  is  done  within  the  time  allowed  by  the 
expert,  and  is  up  to  the  standard  for  quality,  the  workman  receives 
extra  compensation  (usually  20  to  50  per  cent  of  the  time  allowed) 
in  addition  to  his  day's  pay.  If  it  is  not  done  in  the  time  set,  or  is 
not  up  to  the  standard  for  quality,  the  workman  receives  his  day's 
pay  only.  The  system  is  thus  in  effect  a  combination  of  the  day- 
rate  and  PIECE  WORK  systems."  Under  the  Gantt  system  in  general, 
the  existing  form  of  organization  in  an  industrial  plant  is  left  more 
nearly  intact  than  under  the  Taylor  system.  As  a  rule,  also,  the 
TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDIES  are  not  so  minute,  and  the  percentage  of 
allowance  for  such  factors  as  interference,  FATIGUE,  and  inertia  is 
more  liberal,  thus  making  it  easier  for  the  worker  to  earn  the  bonus 
earlier  and  even  to  go  under  the  bonus  time.  The  GANG  BOSS  as  a 
rule  receives  a  bonus  for  each  worker  who  fulfills  his  task  satisfac- 
torily, and  a  double  bonus  when  all  the  workers  under  his  super- 
vision are  successful.  The  Gantt  plan  of  wage  payment  is  often  called 
the  "task  and  bonus  system,"  but  this  name  could  be  applied  with 
equal  accuracy  to  some  of  the  other  methods  of  wage  payment 
under  scientific  management. 

Garnishment  of  Wages.  The  process  of  requiring  an  em- 
ployer, by  court  order,  to  withhold  the  payment  of  wages  due  an 
employee  pending  the  determination  of  a  legal  claim  against  the 
employee.  Also  called  "trusteeing  of  wages."  (See  WAGE  EXEMP- 
TION.) 

Garret  Master  or  Garret  Boss.     See  LITTLE  MASTER. 

Garton  Foundation  Report.  A  detailed  memorandum  on 
the  industrial  situation  in  Great  Britain  as  affected  by  the  first 
two  years  of  war,  published  in  1916  by  the  Garton  Foundation, 
London,  of  which  Arthur  Balfour,  Viscount  Esher,  and  Sir  Richard 
Garton  are  trustees.  To  allay  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST,  the  Report 
proposed  the  replacing  of  the  idea  of  private  advantage  by  that  of 
public  service,  through  a  system  of  joint  committees  or  councils 
leading  up  through  factory  and  district  representation  to  a  national 
industrial  council  for  each  major  industry.  The  WHITLEY  PLAN 
is  largely  based  on  the  recommendations  of  this  report. 

Gemeinsamerbetriebsrat  (Joint  Works  Council).  See  GER- 
MAN WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

General  Council,  Trades  Union  Congress.  See  TRADES 
UNION  CONGRESS. 

[183] 


General  Executive  Board.  As  found  in  most  of  the  larger 
national  and  international  American  trade  unions,  this  is  a 
central  governing  body  having  more  or  less  control  over  the  admin- 
istrative and  judicial  affairs  of  the  organization.  The  chief  function 
of  the  general  executive  board  is  to  serve  as  a  check  on  the  power  of 
the  NATIONAL  OFFICERS.  In  most  cases,  the  executive  board  levies 
assessments  appoints  temporary  officers  to  fill  vacancies,  and  per- 
forms other  duties  which  were  vested  in  the  president  in  the  early 
days  of  the  older  organizations.  "The  duty  of  declaring  strikes, 
which  none  of  the  older  organizations  ventured  to  entrust  to  the 
president,  has  been  delegated  to  the  executive  board  by  practically 
all  unions  save  the  few  which  submit  this  question  to  popular  vote. 
Perhaps  the  most  important  function  of  the  board  is  to  bring  to  trial 
and  remove  officers  for  misdemeanors  and  neglect  of  duty,  since  con- 
trol over  officers  depends  so  largely  upon  the  ability  of  the  board  to 
exercise  this  power."  As  a  rule,  union  members  in  each  section  of 
the  country  and  in  each  branch  of  the  trade  demand  representation 
on  the  board.  Its  personnel  being  thus  scattered  about  the  country, 
meetings  of  the  board  are  held  infrequently,  because  of  the  expense 
of  bringing  together  the  members ;  and  much  of  its  business  is  trans- 
acted by  mail  or  telegraph.  (See  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — 
NATIONAL.) 

General  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  A  British  organiza- 
tion established  in  1899  mainly  as  a  mutual  insurance  agency  against 
the  heavy  financial  burdens  to  which  trade  unions  are  subject  in 
the  distribution  of  STRIKE  PAY.  By  means  of  a  small  annual  con- 
tribution from  a  large  aggregate  membership,  the  Federation  has 
been  able  to  build  up  a  large  reserve  fund,  upon  which  the  affiliated 
unions  may  draw  during  a  trade  dispute.  Its  governing  body  is  a 
General  Council  consisting  of  delegates  appointed  by  affiliated  or- 
ganizations in  proportion  to  their  numbers.  The  General  Council 
chooses  each  year  a  Management  Committee  of  fifteen,  who  together 
with  the  Secretary,  elected  at  the  annual  meeting,  form  the  execu- 
tive of  the  Federation.  In  1919  the  Federation  included  141  affil- 
iated unions,  with  a  constituent  membership  of  1,215,107.  Most 
of  the  affiliated  unions  are  also  affiliated  with  the  TRADES  UNION 
CONGRESS. 

General  Hazard  of  the  Industry.  See  TRADE  RISK  PRIN- 
CIPLE. 

General  Labor  Conference  of  the  League  of  Nations. 
The  clauses  of  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  creating  an  INTERNATIONAL 

[184] 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  under  the  League  of  Nations  provide  that 
this  organization  shall  consist  of  (i)  a  General  Conference  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  Members  of  the  League,  and  (2)  an  INTERNATIONAL 
LABOR  OFFICE.  It  is  the  function  of  the  General  Conference  to 
frame  drafts  of  conventions  or  recommendations  in  regard  to  labor 
matters,  which  shall  later  be  submitted  to  the  national  legislative 
bodies  of  the  constituent  members  of  the  League,  for  adoption  or 
rejection.  The  General  Conference  "shall  be  composed  of  four 
representatives  of  each  of  the  members,  of  whom  two  shall  be  govern- 
ment delegates  and  the  two  others  shall  be  delegates  representing 
respectively  the  employers  and  the  workpeople  of  the  members." 
Advisers  are  allowed  to  accompany  delegates,  and  in  questions 
affecting  women  one  adviser  in  the  delegation  "should  be  a  woman." 
The  delegates  vote  individually.  Meetings  of  the  Conference  must 
be  held  at  least  once  a  year  at  the  seat  of  the  League  of  Nations 
(Geneva),  or  elsewhere  as  may  be  decided.  The  first  meeting  was 
convened  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  on  October  29,  1919,  and  adjourned 
a  month  later.  Delegates  representing  labor  and  employer  groups 
of  all  countries  included  in  the  League  were  in  attendance.  The 
Conference  perfected  its  permanent  machinery,  appointed  a  Director 
General  of  the  International  Labor  Office,  and  adopted  six  conventions 
and  six  recommendations  for  proposed  labor  legislation.  The  con- 
ventions were  as  follows:  (i)  Establishment  of  an  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY 
and  a  FORTY-EIGHT  HOUR  WEEK;  (2)  establishment  of  government 
EMPLOYMENT  AGENCIES  and  abolition  of  private  agencies;  (3)  pro- 
hibition of  NIGHT  WORK  for  women  except  in  undertakings  where 
only  members  of  the  family  are  employed;  (4)  prohibition  of  children 
under  fourteen  years  of  age  from  industrial  work;  (5)  prohibition  of 
young  persons,  male  or  female,  from  working  at  night;  and  (6) 
indemnification  of  wage-earning  mothers  at  time  of  childbirth. 
The  six  recommendations  dealt  with  the  following:  (i)  Remedies 
for  UNEMPLOYMENT;  (2)  reciprocity  in  the  treatment  of  foreign  work- 
ers; (3)  prevention  of  anthrax;  (4)  protection  of  women  and  children 
against  lead  poisoning;  (5)  government  health  services;  (6)  prohibi- 
tion of  the  use  of  white  phosphorus  in  the  manufacture  of  matches. 
The  second  meeting  of  the  Conference  opened  at  Genoa,  Italy,  on 
June  15,  1920,  and  concluded  its  sessions  on  July  10.  The  agenda  re- 
lated solely  to  the  welfare  and  protection  of  seamen;  and  in  addition 
to  the  official  delegates,  a  number  of  representatives  of  shipowners 
and  of  seamen's  organizations  sat  in  the  Conference  as  non-official 
delegates.  Several  draft  conventions  in  regard  to  seafaring  labor 
were  adopted.  The  agenda  for  the  third  Conference,  to  meet  at 

[185] 


Geneva  in  the  autumn  of  1921,  has  to  do  mainly  with  agricultural 
labor  and  industrial  disease.  (See  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 
FOR  LABOR  LEGISLATION.) 

General  Labor  Unions.  In  England,  organizations  made  up 
in  largest  part  of  the  following  types  or  classes  of  workers:  (i)  Un- 
skilled workers  in  industries  in  which  specialized  CRAFT  UNIONS  of 
skilled  workers  exist,  e.g.,  engineering  laborers,  builders'  laborers, 
etc. ;  (2)  workers  of  all  sorts  in  industries  or  trades  for  which  no  effec- 
tive special  organizations  exist,  e.g.,  laundry  workers,  chemical 
workers,  brewery  workers,  etc.;  (3)  workers  in  trades  or  industries 
for  which,  although  special  organizations  exist,  these  special  organi- 
zations do  not  cover  the  whole  country,  or  have  not  been  able  to 
establish  their  claim  to  organize  all  the  workers  employed  in  a  par- 
ticular trade  or  industry,  e.g.,  DOCKERS,  vehicle  workers,  etc.  These 
unions,  many  of  which  are  large  and  powerful  national  organizations, 
are  for  the  most  part  federated  in  the  NATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF 
GENERAL  WORKERS. 

General  Laborers' National  Council.  See  NATIONAL  FEDER- 
ATION OF  GENERAL  WORKERS. 

General  Members.    See  MEMBERS  AT  LARGE. 

General  Secretary.  The  principal  administrative  officer  of 
a  British  national  trade  union  is  so  called.  He  te  usually  a  full-time 
salaried  official,  although  in  some  of  the  smaller  unions  he  works  at 
his  trade  and  devotes  only  his  spare  time  to  the  union's  business. 
The  general  secretary  is,  as  a  rule,  elected  annually  by  popular  vote. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  tendency  is  to  reelect  the  same 
man  each  year;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  national  officials,  his 
tenure  of  office  is  practically  permanent  as  long  as  he  gives  satisfac- 
tion. In  some  of  the  SINGLE-BRANCH  UNIONS  the  general  secretary, 
besides  handling  all  the  routine  business,  carries  on  negotiations 
with  employers  and  controls  general  policy  as  well.  (See  BRITISH 
TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZATION.) 

General  Strike.  Few  terms  in  the  labor  movernent  possess 
so  varied  and  elastic  a  meaning  as  this.  It  may  refer  merely  to  an 
organized  stoppage  of  work  by  all  the  workers  in  a  single  community, 
or  by  all  the  workers  in  a  single  industry  in  a  community;  at  the 
other  extreme,  it  may  involve  all  or  practically  all  the  workers  of 
an  entire  country,  or  all  the  workers  in  a  single  national  industry. 
When  confined  to  a  single  community  or  a  single  industry  (sometimes 

[186] 


called  the  "partial  general  strike"),  its  aims  are  nearly  always 
economic — the  gaining  of  some  definite  concession  from  the  employ- 
ers. When  employed  upon  a  national  scale  by  workers  in  all  indus- 
tries, it  is  usually  political  in  character — as  in  the  general  strike 
in  Germany  to  defeat  the  Kapp  coup  d'etat  early  in  1920,  or  in  the 
action  of  the  Danish  workers  against  the  unconstitutional  dissolution 
of  the  Cabinet  by  the  King  in  the  same  year.  What  is  variously 
known  as  the  "social  general  strike,"  the  "revolutionary  general 
strike,"  and  the  "expropriatory  general  strike" — that  is  to  say, 
a  general  strike  on  a  national  or  international  scale,  which  aims 
at  the  complete  overthrow  and  expropriation  of  capitalistic  society, 
and  the  substitution  of  a  new  order — is  as  yet  nothing  more  than 
a  theory,  the  central  item  in  the  philosophy  of  SYNDICALISM.  Ac- 
cording to  a  French  writer,  Paul  Delesalle,  it  means  "the  complete 
and  simultaneous  stoppage  of  production,  which  must  render  im- 
possible the  normal  functioning  of  capitalist  society.  The  workers, 
conscious  at  last  of  their  force  and  their  power,  pour  forth,  with 
one  accord,  from  factory  and  workshop  and  yard,  only  to  return 
there  at  length  to  carry  on  production  for  their  own  profit,  working 
no  longer  for  a  master  or  a  capitalist  trust,  but  for  themselves,  for 
the  profit  of  the  whole  community."  The  French  use  the  term 
"generalized  strike"  in  contradistinction  to  the  "social"  or  "revo- 
lutionary" general  strike.  Any  form  of  general  strike  is  often  re- 
ferred to  as  a  "mass  strike."  (See  HARTAL.) 

General  Wages.     See  WAGES. 

General  Workers.  In  British  industry,  a  common  designation 
for  the  numerous  nondescript  workers  (usually  unskilled  or  semi- 
skilled) who  are  either  not  eligible  to  or  are  not  sought  after  by  the 
national  craft  unions.  These  workers  are  strongly  organized  in 
several  national  societies  known  as  GENERAL  LABOR  UNIONS,  which 
are  federated  in  the  NATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  GENERAL  WORKERS. 

Generalized  Strike.     See  GENERAL  STRIKE. 

Generalkommission  der  Gewerkschaften  (General  Com- 
mission of  Trade  Unions).  See  ALLGEMEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERK- 
SCHAFTSBUND;  GEWERKSCHAFTEN. 

Geneva   Internationale.     See  INTERNATIONALE. 
Geographical  Jurisdiction.     See  JURISDICTION. 

German  General  Trade  Union  Federation.  See  ALLGE- 
MEINER DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND. 

[187] 


German  General  Workers'  Union.  See"  ALLGEMEINE  AR- 
BEITER-UNION. 

German   National   Economic    Council.    See   REICHSWIRT- 

SCHAFTSRAT. 

German  National  Labor  Administration.  There  are  two 
main  executive  departments  devoted  to  labor  affairs  in  the  central 
government  of  the  new  German  Republic.  These  are  the  National 
Ministry  of  Labor  and  the  National  Ministry  of  Economics.  In 
demarcation  of  their  respective  functions,  the  following  official 
statement  has  been  issued:  "All  questions  of  a  socio-political  char- 
acter relating  to  the  labor  contract  will  be  dealt  with  by  the  Ministry 
of  Labor;  in  particular,  unemployment  relief,  compulsory  engage- 
ment of  workers,  share  of  workers  in  business  management  and 
WORKS  COUNCILS.  The  Ministry  of  Economics,  on  the  other  hand, 
deals  with  labor  questions  only  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  continu- 
ation and  reconstruction  of  the  processes  of  production  and  its  tech- 
nique. In  this  connection  the  cooperative  societies,  the  trade  unions, 
joint  industrial  leagues,  and  similar  organizations  will  be  dealt 
with  in  the  National  Ministry  of  Economics." 

German  Spartacus  League.    See  SPARTACANS. 

German  Trade  Union  Congress.  See  ALLGEMEINER  DEUT- 
SCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND. 

German  Trade  Union  Organization.  As  a  typical  example 
of  German  trade  union  organization,  Mr.  C.  M.  Lloyd  (writing 
in  1914)  thus  describes  the  Metalworkers'  Union,  the  largest  of  the 
German  "free"  (Social  Democratic)  national  unions  or  ZENTRAL- 
VERBANDE,  with  more  than  a  million  members:  "The  Metalworkers' 
Union  comprises  451  branches,  grouped  in  eleven  Districts.  The 
government  is  in  the  hands  of  a  supreme  executive  committee  of  paid 
officials,  elected  triennially  by  delegates  from  the  Districts.  The 
authority  of  this  national  executive  is  very  substantial,  including, 
as  it  does,  the  power  to  forbid  a  strike  in  any  District  (except  a 
'defensive'  strike:  there  its  sanction  is  not  required,  though  it  is, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  consulted  before  hostilities  are  begun),  the 
right  to  reject  at  its  discretion  even  duly  elected  candidates  for  the 
District  Executives,  and  the  expenditure  of  something  like  seventy- 
five  or  eighty  per  cent  of  the  ordinary  contributions  of  the  members, 
which  are  paid  direct  into  its  hands,  with  a  final  voice  even  in  the 
disbursement  of  the  balance  that  remains  in  the  local  exchequer. 

[188] 


The  organization  of  the  District  is  elaborate.  There  are  two  sub- 
divisions— the  one  geographical,  into  wards,  the  other  professional, 
into  'craft'  groups  or  branches — fitters,  moulders,  coppersmiths, 
brassworkers,  boilermakers,  machinists,  crane  drivers,  scientific 
instrument  makers  and  so  on.  Both  the  ward  and  the  group  have 
their  committees,  as  well  as  a  staff  of  SHOP-STEWARDS,  each  one 
responsible  for  keeping  the  members  in  his  particular  works  or  shop 
in  touch  with  the  officials  and  with  the  Union  as  a  whole.  The 
central  control  of  the  District  is  in  the  hands  of  permanent  officials 
(elected  by  the  general  meeting),  who,  with  the  chairman  of  the  ward 
and  group  committees,  form  the  Executive  Council.  This  Council 
meets  weekly,  receives  reports  from  each  ward  and  group,  and 
issues  its  own  decisions  and  proposals  to  be  laid  before  the  shop- 
stewards  and  the  ward  and  group  meetings.  Once  a  quarter  a  general 
meeting  is  held,  which — in  the  larger  districts  at  least,  like  Berlin — 
is  not  attended  by  all  the  members,  but  by  the  various  officials, 
the  ward  and  group  committee-men,  and  the  shop-stewards  of  the 
District.  In  exceptional  cases,  on  matters  of  supreme  importance, 
a  referendum  may  be  taken.  .  .  .  Here,  then,  is  a  vast  organization, 
combining  into  one  society  literally  dozens  of  different  trades,  from 
metalworkers  to  laborers,  from  farriers  to  boilermakers,  which  yet 
works  with  marvellous  smoothness,  and  has  been  enormously  suc- 
cessful in  improving  the  conditions  of  its  members."  (See  MATERIAL 
TRADE  UNION.) 

German  Works  Councils  Law  (Betriebsrdtegesetz).  The 
constitution  of  the  new  German  Republic,  adopted  July,  1919, 
contains  tentative  provisions  for  an  elaborate  system  of  WORKS 
COUNCILS.  According  to  this  system,  all  manual  wage-earners  and 
salaried  employees  will  eventually  be  represented  in  three  main  forms 
of  works  council  organization,  as  follows:  (i)  Local  works  councils, 
or  Betriebsarbeiterrdte,  organized  for  each  individual  factory  or 
establishment;  (2)  district  workers'  councils,  or  Bezirksarbeiter- 
rdte,  organized  for  each  economic  area;  and  (3)  a  national  workers' 
council,  or  Reichsarbeiterrat.  As  yet,  the  district  and  national  forms 
of  organization  have  not  come  into  existence.  The  remaining  form 
was  definitely  created  in  a  measure  enacted  in  January,  1920,  by  the 
National  Assembly.  All  industrial  or  commercial  establishments, 
of  whatever  character,  employing  more  than  five  workers  come 
within  the  provisions  of  the  Works  Councils  Law.  Agricultural 
workers,  government  employees,  and  home  workers  are  also  included. 
In  each  establishment  employing  at  least  twenty  workers  a  works 

[189] 


council  (Betriebsarbeiterrat  or,  in  the  usual  shortened  form,  Betrieb- 
srat)  is  to  be  organized.  In  establishments  employing  less  than  twenty 
but  at  least  five  workers,  the  functions  of  a  works  council  will  be  per- 
formed by  a  Betriebsobmann,  a  works  steward  elected  by  the  work- 
ers. In  addition  to  the  general  works  council  there  are  to  be  formed 
in  each  of  the  larger  establishments  separate  group  councils  (Grup- 
penrdte)  consisting  of  a  manual  workers'  council  (Arbeiterraf)  and 
a  non-manual  or  salaried  employees'  council  (Angestelltenraf) ,  repre- 
senting the  special  economic  interests  of  each  of  these  two  groups. 
The  law  also  provides  for  a  works  assembly  (Betriebsversammlung), 
composed  of  all  the  manual  and  non-manual  workers  of  an  establish- 
ment, which  really  stands  in  authority  above  the  works  council. 
In  the  case  of  several  similar  or  economically  interdependent  estab- 
lishments owned  by  the  same  firm,  a  central  works  council  (Gesamt- 
betriebsraf)  may  be  formed  in  addition  to  the  individual  works 
councils;  or  a  joint  works  council  (Gemeinsamerbetriebsrai)  may  be 
formed  to  take  the  place  of  the  individual  works  councils.  The 
members  of  a  works  council,  varying  from  three  to  thirty,  are  elected 
by  vote  of  all  the  workers  in  an  establishment.  They  may  be  either 
men  or  women.  "Although  the  works  council  law  came  into  being 
in  its  present  form  against  the  will  of  the  majority  of  all  organized 
workers,  the  creation  of  works  councils  must  be  considered  as  an 
economic  gain  of  labor.  To  be  sure,  the  law  did  not  recognize  the 
right  of  the  workers'  and  salaried  employees'  representatives  to  a 
voice  in  the  management  of  the  establishment.  It  opened,  however, 
the  way  toward  giving  these  representatives  an  insight  into  the  man- 
agement of  the  establishment  and  thus  placed  them  legally  in  a 
position  to  support  the  policy  of  the  management  in  bringing  about 
the  highest  efficiency  and  the  greatest  possible  economy  in  the  oper- 
ation of  the  plant.  The  law,  moreover,  gives  the  works  council  a 
deciding  vote  in  all  questions  relating  to  labor  conditions,  especially 
in  the  formulating  of  shop  regulations,  a  voice  in  the  discharge  of 
workmen,  and  a  voice  in  the  suspension  of  work  to  the  extent  that 
general  lines  of  conduct  governing  the  procedure  of  suspension  are 
to  be  agreed  upon  between  the  works  council  and  the  employer." 
(See  REICHSWIRTSCHAFTSRAT.) 

Gesamtbetriebsrat  (Central  Works  Council).  See  GERMAN 
WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

Gewerbegerichten.  German  industrial  courts  which,  like 
the  French  and  Belgian  CONSEILS  DE  PRUD'HOMMES  and  the  Italian 
PROBI-VIRI,  have  jurisdiction  in  cases  arising  out  of  existing  labor 

[190] 


contracts.  In  addition,  however,  they  are  empowered  under  certain 
conditions  to  offer  their  services  to  mediate  between  the  parties  to 
an  ordinary  labor  dispute. 

Gewerbeordnung.  The  general  governmental  labor  code  of 
Germany,  regulating  the  safety,  health,  morality,  etc.,  of  workers, 
the  hours  of  women  and  children,  the  conduct  of  dangerous  trades, 

the  TRUCK  SYSTEM,  etc. 

Gewerkschaften  or  Freie  Gewerkschaften.  The  socialist 
(Social  Democratic)  or  "free"  trade  unions  of  Germany,  forming 
by  far  the  largest  and  most  effective  section  of  German  trade  unionism, 
are  so  called.  ,They  began  to  appear  in  the  sixties  of  the  last  century, 
and  were  organized  in  most  cases  by  members  of  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party.  In  1878  the  German  government  passed  an  anti- 
socialist  law  which  practically  destroyed  all  effective  trade  com- 
bination. Between  1878  and  1888,  108  trade  unions  were  dissolved 
by  the  authorities.  Those  that  kept  together  were  compelled  to 
limit  their  activities  to  the  provision  of  friendly  society  BENEFITS. 
But  even  under  the  iron  rule  of  the  anti-socialist  law,  cautious  and 
disguised  attempts  were  made  to  carry  on  trade  union  organization. 
A  number  of  bodies,  the  real  objects  of  which  were  concealed  under 
the  title  of  "friendly  society,"  were  formed,  so  that  when  the  anti- 
socialist  law  lapsed  in  1890  there  were  fifty-eight  Gewerkschaften 
in  existence,  with  a  membership  of  301,500.  The  regained  freedom 
was  used  to  bring  these  bodies  into  closer  relation,  and  a  conference 
was  held  at  Berlin,  which  created  a  central  organization — the  General- 
kommission  der  Gewerkschaften,  superseded  in  1919  by  the  ALL- 

GEMEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND.      Since  this  date  Con- 

gresses  have  been  held  at  intervals,  at  which  important  methods 
affecting  the  affiliated  unions,  which  are  now  generally  known  as 
ZENTRALVERBANDE  (centralized  unions),  are  discussed  and  decided. 
One  of  the  most  important  questions  decided  by  the  first  Congress 
was  with  regard  to  the  form  the  trade  union  organization  should 
take.  A  number  of  the  Gewerkschaften  were  anxious  to  retain  local 
autonomy,  with  a  more  or  less  loose  form  of  national  confederation. 
The  majority,  however,  stood  for  strict  national  centralization,  and 
on  this  being  carried  the  supporters  of  localized  methods  separated 
from  the  main  body.  The  latter  declared  at  first  that  they  consid- 
ered themselves  to  be  a  part  of  the  Social  Democratic  movement, 
thus  limiting  their  membership  to  declared  socialists.  Later  they 
developed  a  type  of  syndicalist  doctrine  known  as  Anarcho-Sozialis- 
mus,  which  caused  the  Social  Democratic  Party  to  repudiate  them. 

[191] 


The  majority  of  the  localized  organizations  then  broke  away  and 
joined  the  centralized  bodies,  and  the  minority  have  now  no  influence 
in  the  German  trade  union  world.  The  total  membership  of  the 
Gewerkschaften  increased  from  less  than  three  millions  in  1918  to 
nearly  eight  and  a  half  millions  in  1920.  Of  this  latter  number 
some  two  millions  are  women  workers.  (See  GEWERKSCHAFTSKAR- 
TELLE;  ARBEITERSEKRETARIAT;  GEWERKSCHAFTHAUSER.) 

Gewerkschafthauser.  In  Germany  the  local  and  district 
organizations  of  GEWERKSCHAFTEN  ("free"  or  Social  Democratic 
unions)  usually  combine  for  the  provision  of  suitable  offices  and 
meeting  places.  In  large  towns,  and  even  in  some  small  ones,  the 
unions  have  erected  splendid  buildings  (Gewerkschafthduser),  in 
which  their  bureaus  are  located.  There  were  seventy  buildings  of 
this  kind  in  Germany  just  before  the  war.  In  some  cases  the  Social 
Democratic  political  organizations  cooperate  for  this  purpose,  and 
have  their  headquarters  under  the  same  roof.  The  Gewerkschajthaus 
in  Berlin  cost  over  $500,000,  and  contains  a  spacious  restaurant, 
large  and  small  halls,  a  lodging  house  for  travelling  trade  unionists, 
and  baths,  as  well  as  the  numerous  offices  of  the  trade  unions  of  the 
capital  and  those  of  the  ALLGEMEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTS- 
BUND. 

Gewerkschaftskartelle.  The  local  federations  of  GEWERK- 
SCHAFTEN ("free"  or  Social  Democratic  trade  unions)  are  so  called 
in  Germany.  They  are  similar,  in  general,  to  the  British  TRADES 
COUNCILS,  their  principal  task  being  the  strengthening  and  expansion 
of  trade  unionism  in  their  respective  areas.  In  addition,  many  of 
them  maintain  workers'  secretariats,  legal  information  bureaus, 
libraries  and  other  educational  facilities,  workmen's  lodging  houses, 
etc.  They  also  make  arrangements  for  the  election  of  workmen's 
representatives  to  various  public  bodies.  (See  ARBEITERSEKRE- 
TARIAT; GEWERKSCHAFTHAUSER.) 

Gewerkschaftskommission  Deutschosterreichs  (Austrian 
Central  Trade  Union  Commission).  An  executive  board  or  national 
commission  which  acts  for  the  entire  body  of  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC 
UNIONS  (Gewerkschaften)  in  Austria,  representing  an  affiliated 
membership  of  772,146  at  the  end  of  1919 — as  against  only  about 
263,000  in  1918.  This  remarkable  increase  is  in  part  due  to  the 
affiliation  of  numerous  organizations  of  non-industrial  wage-workers, 
such  as  bank  employees,  domestic  servants,  policemen,  postal  and 
telegraph  employees,  hospital  nurses,  etc.  Through  the  affiliation 

[192] 


of  these  organizations  the  Gewerkschaftskommission  has  become  the 
official  representative  not  only  of  the  industrial  workers  of  Austria 
but  of  Austria's  entire  wage-earning  population-— with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  small  minority  organized  in  the  CHRISTIAN  and  YELLOW 
UNIONS.  It  works  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Austrian  Social 
Democratic  Labor  Party  (Sozialdemokratische  Arbeiterpartei  in 
Deutschosterreich) ,  organized  in  1888,  which  represents  the  political 
interests  of  the  great  majority  of  Austrian  workers,  who  are  for  the 
most  part  moderate  socialists — although  a  considerable  left-wing 
or  communist  movement  has  lately  developed.  As  in  Germany,  the 
Austrian  trade  union  movement  is  strongly  centralized,  the  affili- 
ated membership  represented  by  the  Gewerkschaftskommission 
being  concentrated  at  the  end  of  1919  in  fifty-five  national  unions. 

Gewerkschaftsschule.     See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION. 

Gewerkvereine  or  Hirsch-Duncker  Unions.  German  labor 
organizations  of  a  non-political  and  anti-socialist  character.  The 
Hirsch-Duncker  Gewerkvereine  came  into  being  in  1868,  at  about 
the  same  time  as  the  GEWERKSCHAFTEN,  and  were  the  creation  of 
prominent  Manchester  School  liberals  of  that  period,  the  names  of 
two  of  whom  form  the  title  of  the  organizations.  The  Gewerkvereine 
are  opposed  to  State  interference,  and  in  favor  of  free  competition 
and  self-help.  They  are  based  on  the  assumption  that  there  is  no 
fundamental  antagonism  between  the  capitalist  and  the  worker, 
and  they  aim  at  settling  all  differences  between  the  two  by  purely 
peaceful  means.  Formerly  it  was  the  custom  to  take  a  pledge  from 
the  members  that  they  would  have  no  relations  with  the  Social 
Democrats,  but  this  has  now  been  dropped.  During  the  era  of  the 
German  anti-socialist  law  (1878-1890)  they  were  undisturbed  by 
the  police,  owing  to  their  harmless  character,  and  in  consequence 
they  grew  fairly  rapidly.  At  the  end  of  1919  they  were  reported  to 
have  190,000  members,  distributed  among  nineteen  affiliated  groups. 

Ghent  System.  A  plan,  originated  by  the  Belgian  city  of 
Ghent  in  1900,  under  which  trade  unions  providing  OUT-OF-WORK 
BENEFITS  to  their  members  receive  a  subsidy  from  the  municipality, 
province,  or  State,  the  amount  of  the  subsidy  being  proportioned 
to  the  trade  union  benefit,  varying  from  33^  to  100  per  cent.  The 
Ghent  system,  with  various  more  or  less  important  modifications, 
has  been  adopted  in  many  communities  throughout  Europe. 

Gilbreth's  Three  -Position  Plan.    See  THREE-POSITION  PLAN. 
Gild.    See  GUILD. 

[i93] 


Gild  Socialism.     See  GUILD  SOCIALISM. 

Ginny.  An  Italian  laborer  in  the  United  States  is  commonly 
so  nicknamed;  although  the  term  is  often  applied  to  any  European 
laborer  in  this  country.  It  is  an  obvious  corruption  of  "guinea." 
(See  DAGO;  WOP.) 

Go  Canny.     See  CA'  CANNY. 

Go  Easy  System.    See  CA'  CANNY. 

Go  Slow  Strike.    See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 

Godin  Familist£re.    See  FAMILISTERE. 

Golden  Scabs.  A  term  used  during  the  American  railway 
strikes  of  1920  in  designation  of  certain  wealthy  commuters,  college 
students,  and  others,  who  acted  as  volunteer  firemen  and  switchmen, 
taking  the  places  of  men  out  on  strike.  (See  WHITE  COLLAR  SCABS.) 

Good  from  Oven.  In  the  British  pottery  industry,  where  the 
PIECE  WORK  basis  prevails,  workers  are  paid  only  for  ware  that  comes 
"good  from  oven" — that  is,  ware  that  does  not  break  in  firing. 
Disputes  over  breakage  under  this  custom  are  frequent  and  sometimes 
serious. 

Governing  Branch.  Under  the  form  of  government  at  one 
time  common  among  British  national  trade  unions,  a  certain  town 
was  chosen  as  the  headquarters  of  the  organization;  then  the  local 
BRANCH  or  branches  of  the  national  union  in  this  town  selected  cer- 
tain of  their  members  to  constitute  the  general  board  of  manage- 
ment. A  paid  official,  known  as  the  secretary  or  secretary-treasurer, 
was  elected  by  vote  of  all  the  members  of  the  national  union.  This 
officer  had  merely  routine  secretarial  and  financial  duties.  The 
board  met  weekly  or  oftener,  and  transacted  much  business  that  is 
now  commonly  performed  by  salaried  officials.  Through  periodical 
removals  of  the  seat  of  government,  the  participation  of  all  members 
was  secured,  though  of  course  not  continuously.  The  "governing 
branch"  system,  now  largely  obsolete,  has  been  adopted,  either 
exactly  or  with  modifications,  by  a  few  American  national  unions. 

Government  by  Injunction.  Owing  to  the  frequency  with 
which  the  INJUNCTION  is  resorted  to  as  an  anti-labor  weapon  and 
the  wide  scope  of  its  assumed  powers,  American  workers  often  speak 
ironically  of  our  governmental  system  as  "government  by  injunc- 
tion." 

[  194] 


Government  Ownership.     See  NATIONALIZATION. 

Grading  System.  This  term  usually  refers  to  the  plan, 
sometimes  found  in  unorganized  trades,  under  which  workers  at  a 
specific  occupation  are  classified  into  various  grades,  according  to 
the  degree  of  individual  skill  possessed,  with  different  rates  of  TIME 
WORK  wages  for  the  different  grades.  Practically  all  trade  unions 
are  strongly  opposed  to  the  grading  system.  "It  might  seem  to  be 
possible  for  the  union  itself  to  fix  grades  of  ability,  with  corresponding 
differences  of  wages,  to  which  it  might  assign  its  several  members; 
but  the  universal  voice  of  the  union  world  declares  this  to  be  imprac- 
ticable. Such  grading  could  not  be  effected  without  jealousies  and 
heartburnings.  In  a  purely  voluntary  and  democratic  organization, 
whose  strength  depends  upon  the  loyalty  of  its  members,  it  would 
not  be  safe  to  introduce  a  policy  so  heavy  with  causes  of  discord. 
On  the  other  hand,  to  permit  members  to  be  assigned  to  different 
grades  by  the  employers  would  be  to  revert  to  the  individual  bargain ; 
and  the  tendency  would  be  to  reduce  the  greater  part  of  the  members 
to  the  lowest  grade."  (See  INCREMENTAL  SCALE;  WAGE  DIFFER- 
ENTIAL; RATING  SCALE.) 

Grand  Division  or  Grand  International  Division.  See 
DIVISION. 

Grand  Lodge.    See  LODGE. 

Grand  National.  One  of  the  most  interesting  experiments 
in  the  early  British  labor  movement  was  the  establishment  in  1834 
of  the  "Grand  National  Consolidated  Trades  Union,"  under  the 
leadership  of  Robert  Owen — socialist,  factory  reformer,  and  educa- 
tionist. It  was,  in  effect,  a  form  of  SYNDICALISM  or  ONE  BIG  UNION 
(although  organized  long  before  those  terms  were  ever  heard  of), 
which  aimed  at  including  all  the  manual  workers  in  every  trade  in 
the  country,  with  the  various  trades  organized  in  associations  or 
parochial  lodges,  and  centrally  united  through  delegates  to  a  "Grand 
National  Council."  Each  trade  union  or  "company"  was  to  be 
an  independent  unit,  controlling  its  own  industry  throughout  the 
country,  excluding  commercial  competition  and  destined  finally 
to  supersede  the  State  as  well  as  the  private  capitalist.  Within  a 
few  weeks  the  organization  had  enrolled  between  half  a  million  and 
a  million  workers;  but  internal  dissensions,  employers'  lockouts,  and 
government  prosecution  combined  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy  collapse. 

Grass  Hands.    See  GRASS  WORK. 


Grass  Work.  A  common  nickname  in  England  for  "casual" 
or  irregular  employment — that  which  occupies  the  worker  for  part 
of  the  day  or  the  week  only.  Those  workers  who  depend  upon 
"grass  work"  are  commonly  known  as  "grassers"  or  "grass  hands." 
They  are  usually  extra  or  relief  workers,  who  "fill  in"  during  rush 
hours  or  other  special  contingencies.  The  use  of  "grass"  in  this 
sense  is  probably  derived  from  the  phrase,  "turned  out  to  grass," 
as  applied  to  horses  that  spend  most  of  their  time  in  the  pasture. 
(See  ON-AND-Off  SYSTEM.) 

Grassers.     See  GRASS  WORK. 
Grassing.     See  SHOOTING. 

Greaser.  A  term  of  contempt  applied  in  some  parts  of  the 
United  States  to  a  native  Mexican,  particularly  of  the  common 
laboring  class. 

Great  Industry.  The  present  international  industrial  organi- 
zation for  production  and  exchange  is  frequently  so  called  by  modern 
economists,  in  contrast  with  the  relatively  narrow  and  local  conditions 
under  which  industry  was  formerly  carried  on.  A  world-wide  inter- 
dependence for  raw  materials  and  finished  products  is  the  chief 
characteristic  of  the  Great  Industry. 

Greater  Unionism.     See  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM. 

Greek  General  Confederation  of  Labor.  Founded  at  a  Pan- 
Hellenic  Labor  Congress  in  1918,  with  75,000  members.  Owing  to 
government  persecution,  including  the  deportation  of  its  executive, 
the  membership  had  fallen  to  60,000  in  1920.  In  general,  trade 
unionism  in  Greece  is  of  very  recent  development  and  comparatively 
small  proportions. 

Green.  In  accordance  with  the  popular  tendency  to  associate 
political  and  economic  creeds  with  specific  colors,  "green"  is  generally 
used  in  connection  with  European  peasant  affairs  and  interests,  the 
peasants  as  a  rule  being  neither  "red"  nor  "white" — although  the 
more  well-to-do  (particularly  the  peasant  proprietors)  incline  toward 
the  latter.  Thus,  there  have  been  reports  recently  of  the  formation 
of  a  so-called  "Green  Internationale"  among  the  peasants  of  central 
and  eastern  Europe,  in  opposition  to  the  "Red  Internationale"  of 
the  town  socialists  and  communists. 

Green  Hands.  Workers  who  are  new  to  the  particular  task 
or  industry  at  which  they  are  employed,  or  who  have  not  yet  become 

[196] 


"seasoned"  in  the  methods  of  a  particular  plant.  While  "green" 
workers  are  often  "unskilled"  workers,  the  two  terms  are  by  no 
means  synonymous. 

Green  Internationale.     See  GREEN. 

Greenbackism.  As  associated  with  the  American  labor  move- 
ment from  about  1867  to  1878,  this  was  the  theory  that  working- 
class  interests  would  best  be  served  by  the  suppression  of  banks  of 
issue,  the  confinement  of  currency  to  "greenbacks"  or  paper  cur- 
rency put  out  by  the  government,  and  the  total  or  partial  payment 
of  the  national  debt  in  such  currency.  Greenbackism  was  "the 
American  form  of  Europe's  SOCIALISM  and  ANARCHISM"  which  were 
then  dividing  the  foreign  labor  movement.  (See  NATIONAL  LABOR 
UNION.) 

Greener.  A  name  applied  in  England  to  an  alien  just  landed 
in  that  country,  particularly  one  unskilled  in  any  trade  and  more 
or  less  destitute. 

Greve  aux  Bras  Croises.  In  France,  the  "folded  arms  strike" 
— one  in  which  the  workers  play  a  purely  passive  part,  and  which 
is  mainly  a  test  of  financial  strength  between  employer  and  employees. 

Greve  Per  lee  (Pearled  Strike).  The  French  designation  for 
that  form  of  SABOTAGE  which  consists  in  creating  the  greatest  pos- 
sible amount  of  confusion  and  loss  to  an  employer  by  intentional 
"mistakes"  and  inefficiency  of  employees.  Thus,  packages  may  be 
misdirected,  the  wrong  goods  delivered  to  a  customer,  telegrams  made 
unintelligible  or  misleading,  stock  misplaced,  important  letters 
delayed,  etc.  The  general  purpose  is  to  worry  and  distract  the 
employer  into  granting  the  workers'  demands. 

Grievance  Committee.  Usually  a  standing  committee  ap- 
pointed by  a  local  trade  union  to  confer  with  employers  in  regard 
to  the  adjustment  of  complaints  brought  to  its  attention  by  members 
of  the  union.  Grievance  committees  are  also  sometimes  set  up 
by  the  employees  of  individual  plants — occasionally  under  the  em- 
ployer's initiative.  (See  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — LOCAL.) 

Grievance  Fund.     See  STRIKE  FUND. 

Grinding  Money.     In   certain   British   trades  in   which   the 
workers  supply  their  own  steel  tools,  this  is  an  extra  payment, 
14  1 197  ] 


usually  stipulated  in  the  WORKING  RULES,  for  time  spent  by  the  men 
in  sharpening  their  tools. 

Group  Insurance.  A  single  insurance  policy,  usually  taken 
out  by  an  employer  and  covering  all  his  employees  against  sickness 
and  death,  regardless  of  their  various  ages  and  conditions  and  without 
requiring  any  individual  action  or  payment  on  their  part.  Group 
insurance  has  also  been  successfully  adopted  by  the  British  coopera- 
tive movement. 

Group  Piece  Work.    See  COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK. 

Griitliverein  (Grutli  Union).  The  oldest  of  Swiss  labor  or- 
ganizations; founded  in  1838.  It  maintains  numerous  branches 
throughout  the  country;  but  its  efforts  are  directed  more  toward 
political  and  socialistic  than  toward  purely  industrial  ends.  It  is 
at  present  largely  merged  in  the  Swiss  Socialist  Party,  of  which  it 
forms  the  OPPORTUNIST  wing. 

Gruppenrate  (Group  Councils).  See  GERMAN  WORKS  COUN- 
CILS LAW. 

Guaranteed  Time.  Refers  to  the  principle,  established  by 
some  trade  unions,  that  if  a  worker  is  hired  at  all  he  must  be  assured 
a  full  day's  or  week's  work  or,  failing  that,  FULL  PAY  for  the  period. 
It  is  often  proposed,  by  those  who  advocate  making  UNEMPLOYMENT 
"a  charge  on  the  industry,"  that  this  principle  should  be  extended 
to  cover  the  entire  year. 

Guerilla  Unionism.     See  PREDATORY  UNIONISM. 

Guild  or  Gild.  Historically,  an  association  of  craftsmen  and 
merchants,  exercising  a  monopoly  over  a  particular  trade  or  craft  in 
a  single  town.  Guilds  of  this  type  practically  controlled  the  industry 
of  medieval  Europe.  Roughly  speaking,  they  were  associations  of 
producers  of  a  particular  commodity  within  a  particular  area,  grouped 
together  to  protect  their  own  interests  and  the  interests  of  the  con- 
sumer. They  fixed  prices  and  wages,  as  well  as  quality  standards 
of  production,  and  in  many  cases  played  also  a  prominent  part  in 
the  social  and  political  activities  of  their  localities.  At  first  bene- 
ficial in  its  effects  upon  master,  worker,  and  consumer  alike,  the  guild 
system  later  degenerated  into  a  selfish  and  exclusive  industrial  oli- 
garchy. The  change  from  TOWN  ECONOMY  to  NATIONAL  ECONOMY, 
the  rise  of  a  capitalistic  class,  internal  feuds,  external  suppression, 
and  various  other  causes  led  to  the  gradual  extinction  of  the  guilds, 


although  certain  nominal  survivals  are  still  to  be  found  in  various 
parts  of  Europe.  Some  authorities  trace  the  origin  of  the  modern 
trade  union  back  to  the  medieval  guilds,  but  this  connection  has  been 
rather  convincingly  disproved  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb.  Quite  aside 
from  the  above-described  system,  the  term  "guild"  is  often  used  in 
designation  of  various  forms  of  association  for  cooperative  effort, 
some  of  which  are  of  considerable  antiquity.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  EVO- 
LUTION; HANDICRAFT  SYSTEM.) 

Guild  Congress.  See  GUILD  SOCIALISM;  FUNCTIONAL  DEMOC- 
RACY. 

Guild  Socialism.  A  plan  for  the  management  of  industry 
by  self-governing  organizations  of  workers,  acting  in  cooperation 
with  the  political  State,  which  has  won  many  adherents  in  Great 
Britain  during  the  past  few  years.  Under  this  plan,  "ownership  of 
the  means  of  production  is  to  rest  with  the  community,  but  the  Trade 
Unions  are  to  be  definitely  recognized  by  the  State  as  the  normal 
controllers  of  industry.  They  are  to  be  statutory  bodies  exercising 
a  monopoly  but  admitting  of  free  entry  on  reasonable  conditions. 
The  amount  and  character  of  their  production  are  to  be  determined 
for  them  by  demand,  but  the  methods  and  processes  are  to  be  left 
entirely  in  their  hands:  they  are  to  elect  their  own  officials,  and  to 
be  self-governing  corporations  with  the  widest  powers.  In  fact, 
they  are  to  resemble  in  their  main  characteristics  the  self-govern- 
ing professions,  the  doctors  and  the  lawyers,  of  the  present.  As  the 
Unions  will  include  every  one  concerned  in  the  industry,  from  gen- 
eral manager  to  laborers,  they  will  be  in  essence  'Guilds,'  i.e.,  asso- 
ciations not  of  dependent,  but  of  independent,  producers."  This 
summary  is  from  the  pen  of  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  movement, 
G.  D.  H.  Cole.  The  same  writer  says,  in  another  place:  "We  who 
call  ourselves  National  Guildsmen  look  forward  to  a  community 
in  which  production  will  be  organized  through  democratic  associa- 
tion of  all  the  workers  in  each  industry  linked  up  in  a  body  repre- 
senting all  the  workers  in  all  industries.  On  the  other  hand  we  look 
forward  to  a  democratization  of  the  State  and  of  local  government, 
and  to  sharing  of  industrial  control  between  producers  and  consum- 
ers. The  State  should  own  the  means  of  production ;  the  Guild  should 
control  the  work  of  production."  Under  this  plan  there  would  be, 
in  addition  to  the  Parliament  or  national  political  assembly  (elected, 
as  at  present,  on  a  territorial  basis  and  representing  the  community 
as  consumers),  a  national  "Guild  Congress,"  consisting  of  represen- 
tatives of  the  national  guilds  and  representing  the  community  as 

[  199] 


producers,  which  would  enact  and  enforce  all  purely  industrial  legis- 
lation. An  equal  number  of  representatives  from  the  Parliament 
and  the  Guild  Congress,  in  the  form  of  a  Joint  Committee,  would 
constitute  the  ultimate  sovereign  body  of  the  community.  Rela- 
tions between  different  groups  of  producers  would  be  the  concern 
of  the  Guild  Congress;  matters  concerning  the  territorial  or  geo- 
graphical interests  of  the  inhabitants,  and  their  interests  as  con- 
sumers, would  be  decided  by  the  Parliament;  while  all  disputes 
between  these  two  bodies,  and  questions  involving  producers  and 
consumers  alike,  would  be  decided  by  the  Joint  Committee.  Thus, 
guild  socialism  steers  a  middle  course  between  SYNDICALISM,  on  the 
one  hand,  which  would  abolish  the  political  State  altogether  and 
take  account  of  men  only  or  chiefly  as  producers;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  STATE  SOCIALISM,  which  would  enhance  the  powers  of  the 
political  State  and  deal  with  men  wholly  or  chiefly  as  consumers. 
The  British  guild  socialists  are  divided  into  several  factions,  differing 
chiefly  on  the  form  of  the  political  Parliament,  or  the  degree  of  sov- 
ereignty which  it  will  exercise,  in  connection  with  the  Guild  Congress 
or  economic  Parliament.  But  notwithstanding  divided  counsels 
in  the  movement,  guild  socialism  has  exerted  a  strong  influence  on 
a  number  of  prominent  trade  unionists,  and  it  has  been  made  the 
basis  of  several  interesting  experiments  in  British  industrial  affairs. 
(See  FUNCTIONAL  DEMOCRACY;  DUAL  STATE;  COLLECTIVE  CON- 
TRACT; INDUSTRIALIZED  NATIONALIZATION.) 

Gumshoes.     See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 
Gunmen.     See  ARMED  GUARDS. 
Guv'nor's  Man.    See  COMPANY  MAN. 


H 


Half  Members.  In  some  unions,  as  for  example  the  United 
Mine  Workers,  boys  under  sixteen  years  of  age  are  taken  into  the 
union  as  "half  members."  They  pay  only  half  as  much  in  the  way 
of  dues  and  assessments  as  full  members,  and  have  but  half  a  vote 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  local  union. 

Half -Time  System.  Under  the  British  FACTORY  AND  WORK- 
SHOP ACTS,  this  term  refers  to  the  various  regulations  and  restrictions 
under  which  children  and  YOUNG  PERSONS  may  be  employed  either 
for  consecutive  half -days  (that  is,  in  morning  or  afternoon  "sets") 
or  for  alternate  full  days  during  the  week;  leaving  one-half  of  their 
time  free  for  schooling.  Those  employed  under  the  half-time  system 
are  commonly  known  as  "half-timers." 

Half -Timers.     See  HALF-TIME  SYSTEM. 

Halsey  Plan.  This,  the  simplest  form  of  the  PREMIUM  BONUS 
SYSTEM  of  wage  payment,  was  devised  by  F.  A.  Halsey,  an  American 
engineer.  By  reference  to  past  records  the  normal  or  standard  time 
required  for  a  given  job  is  ascertained.  If  the  worker  completes  the 
job  in  less  than  this  standard  time,  he  receives  a  bonus  or  premium, 
graduated  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  time  saved.  If  he  does 
not  produce  the  normal  amount  of  work,  he  still  receives  the  usual 
time  wage.  Thus,  if  the  standard  time  allowance  for  a  job  is  ten  hours, 
and  the  worker  does  the  job  in  six  hours,  payment  will  be  made  for 
six  hours  and  also  for  a  proportion  (usually  either  one-third  or  one- 
half)  of  the  four  hours  saved  in  doing  the  job. 

Hammering  from  Without.  See  DUAL  UNIONISM;  BORING 
FROM  WITHIN. 

Handicraft  System.  A  name  given  to  the  second  stage  in 
modern  INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION — the  stage  following  the  FAMILY 
SYSTEM  and  preceding  the  DOMESTIC  SYSTEM.  This  is  the  stage, 
according  to  W.  J.  Ashley,  "when  professional  craftsmen  come  into 

[201  ] 


existence:  men  who,  though  they  may  have  small  holdings  of  land 
which  they  cultivate,  and  may  indeed  receive  remuneration  in  the 
shape,  to  some  extent,  of  these  holdings,  are  yet  primarily  crafts- 
men— primarily,  for  instance,  weavers  or  smiths.  .  .  .  Production  in 
this  stage  is  still  on  a  small  scale;  it  takes  place  either  at  the  custom- 
er's home  or  in  a  small  workshop  or  room  or  shed  within  or  adjoining 
the  craftsman's  own  dwelling;  and  there  is  no  intermediary  between 
producer  and  consumer.  The  producer  either  works  on  the  customer's 
own  materials  or,  if  he  buys  his  own  material  and  has  not  only 
'labor'  but  a  'commodity'  to  sell,  he  deals  directly  with  a  small 
neighboring  circle  of  patrons.  There  is  a  'market'  in  the  modern 
business  or  economic  sense,  but  it  is  a  small  and  near  one,  and  the 
producer  is  in  direct  touch  with  it;  though,  indeed,  it  may  some- 
times consist,  not  of  the  ultimate  consuming  public,  but  of  fellow- 
artisans  in  some  other  'mistery.'"  (See  DIVISION  OF  LABOR;  TOWN 
ECONOMY;  GUILD.) 

Hands.  A  common  designation,  of  long  standing,  for  members 
pf  the  working  class — as  for  example,  "mill  hands,"  "farm  hands," 
"factory  hands,"  etc.  The  use  of  this  term  unconsciously  reveals 
the  deep-rooted  conception  of  labor  as  a  commodity,  and  of  the 
laborer  as  a  sort  of  automatic  machine  rather  than  a  human  being. 
(See  COMMODITY  THEORY  OF  LABOR;  GREEN  HANDS.) 

Handy -Man.     See  HELPER. 

Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  Labor  Agreement.  This  "indus- 
trial constitution,"  adopted  by  negotiation  between  a  large  men's 
clothing  factory  in  Chicago  and  the  Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers 
of  America,  has  been  called  "the  most  successful  and  most  highly 
developed  machinery  of  labor  adjustment  in  the  United  States — 
perhaps  in  the  world."  Since  this  agreement  was  first  reached  in 
January,  1911,  there  has  not  been  a  strike  in  the  large  Hart,  Schaffner 
&  Marx  establishment,  employing  normally  7,000  workers;  although 
the  employees,  virtually  all  of  whom  are  members  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Clothing  Workers,  have  gained  a  long  succession  of  improve- 
ments in  hours,  wages,  working  conditions,  and  shop  control.  The 
essential  feature  of  the  plan  is  a  system  of  CONTINUOUS  ARBITRATION, 
vested  in  two  permanent  joint  bodies — the  Trade  Board  and  the 
Board  of  Arbitration.  The  former,  which  is  the  primary  board  for 
adjusting  grievances,  consists  of  ten  employees  of  the  company, 
five  chosen  by  the  management  and  five  by  the  union,  with  a  chair- 
man representing  the  mutual  interests  of  both  sides.  The  Board  of 

J  202! 


Arbitration,  which  has  full  and  final  jurisdiction  over  all  matters 
arising  under  the  agreement,  consists  of  three  members,  one  chosen 
by  the  management  and  one  by  the  union,  with  an  IMPARTIAL  CHAIR- 
MAN selected  by  both  parties.  This  impartial  chairman  is  in  effect 
the  controlling  or  regulating  factor  in  the  entire  arrangement.  Be- 
sides these  two  bodies,  provision  is  made  for  various  minor  officials — 
company  and  union  DEPUTIES,  SHOP  CHAIRMEN,  etc. — who  assist 
in  the  operation  of  the  agreement.  The  PREFERENTIAL  SHOP  principle 
is  an  important  feature  of  the  entire  arrangement.  Labor  agreements 
modelled  on  the  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx  plan  have  been  adopted  by 
many  other  American  employers  in  the  men's  clothing  trade. 

Hartal.  The  name  given  to  a  mild  form  of  GENERAL  STRIKE 
in  India.  The  hartal  has  so  far  been  resorted  to  mainly  by  way  of 
political  protest,  and  is  more  in  the  nature  of  passive  resistance  than 
active  insurrection.  "On  appointed  days  a  general  strike  of  the 
classes  and  the  masses  is  called  in  protest  against  some  injustice, 
and  business  is  practically  suspended  in  one  or  several  large  towns 
of  a  province.  Frequently  the  call  extends  to  the  towns  in  several 
provinces."  The  hartal  was  originally  an  ancient  Indian  custom — 
a  day  of  public  mourning.  Its  modern  form,  as  described  above,  is 
sometimes  called  the  satyagraha  or  "passive  resistance  strike." 

Harvest  Labor  Problem.     See  LABOR  OUTINGS. 

Harvest  Stiff.  A  migratory  worker,  often  a  member  of  the 
I.  W.  W.,  who  travels  from  farm  to  farm  in  the  Western  states, 
helping  in  harvesting  operations,  is  thus  colloquially  known.  (See 
STIFF.) 

Harvester  Works  Council  Plan.  As  adopted  in  1919  by  the 
International  Harvester  Company,  this  plan  provides  for  the  forma- 
tion in  each  of  the  company's  plants  of  a  joint  WORKS  COMMITTEE 
or  council  for  the  "consideration  of  all  questions  of  policy  relating 
to  working  conditions,  health,  safety,  hours  of  labor,  wages,  recrea- 
tion, education,  and  other  similar  matters  of  mutual  interest." 
Employees  and  management  have  equal  representation  on  the  works 
council.  The  final  decision  upon  any  matter  over  which  a  dead- 
lock has  been  reached  rests  in  the  hands  of  an  "impartial  and  dis- 
interested" ARBITRATOR  or  arbitration  committee. 

Harvesters.  A  trade  union  nickname  for  skilled  workmen 
who  come  to  this  country  from  Europe  for  a  few  months  of  work 
during  the  "rush"  season  and  then  return  home.  Some  unions, 

[203] 


notably  the  Stone  Cutters'  Association,  have  endeavored  to  abate 
the  "harvester"  evil  by  charging  a  high  INITIATION  FEE  to  applicants 
from  outside  the  United  States.  (See  BIRDS  OF  PASSAGE.) 

Hazardous  Occupations.  Those  which  are  dangerous  to  the 
life,  limbs,  or  health  of  the  workers  who  engage  in  them.  According 
to  a  recent  exhaustive  investigation,  there  are  eight  general  indus- 
tries which  are  more  hazardous,  in  regard  to  fatal  accidents,  than 
service  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  of  these  metal  and  coal 
mining  head  the  list.  The  classification  of  hazardous  industrial  pro- 
cesses usually  includes  the  cleaning  and  oiling  of  machinery,  adjust- 
ment of  belts,  operation  of  machine  saws  or  of  stamping,  washing, 
grinding,  and  mixing  machines,  and  the  manufacture  of  lead  products 
or  of  compositions  containing  poisonous  acids.  Under  the  head  of 
extra-hazardous  occupations  is  generally  included  work  in  mines, 
at  blast  furnaces,  or  on  railroads,  in  the  outside  erection  of  electric 
wires,  or  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives.  (See  PROHIBITED  EM- 
PLOYMENTS; HEALTH  HAZARDS;  INDUSTRIAL  HAZARD;  SAFETY  FIRST 
MOVEMENT.) 

Health  Hazards.  With  reference  to  industrial  workers,  these 
may  be  classified  as  dangers  arising  from  (i)  poisons,  dusts,  fumes, 
gases;  (2)  heat,  humidity,  improper  ventilation;  (3)  bad  or  insuffi- 
cient lighting;  (4)  overcrowding;  (5)  inadequate  or  unsanitary  wash- 
room and  toilet  arrangements ;  (6)  SPEEDING  UP,  long  working  spells, 
OVERTIME  work,  NIGHT  WORK,  lack  of  proper  REST  PERIODS;  (7) 
association  with  diseased  fellow-workers.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  HAZARD.) 

Health  Insurance.     See  SICKNESS  INSURANCE. 

Helper  or  Handy-Man.  An  unskilled  or  semi-skilled  worker 
who  assists  a  JOURNEYMAN  in  any  industrial  task.  The  helper  must 
not  be  confused  with  the  APPRENTICE.  "The  latter  is  in  training  to 
become  a  journeyman.  He  uses  journeymen's  tools;  he  is  permitted 
if  efficient  to  do  journeyman's  work,  and  he  is  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  journeymen's  union.  The  helper  or  LABORER,  except 
in  a  few  of  the  trades,  is  not  in  training;  he  is  not  allowed  to  use 
journeymen's  tools,  and  in  most  cases  he  belongs  to  an  independent 
union.  As  his  name  implies,  he  helps  the  journeyman ;  he  is  supposed 
to  do  the  unskilled  work  and  to  lend  a  hand  when  required  to  do  so." 
Clauses  limiting  the  number  of  helpers  a  journeyman  may  have, 
and  restricting  the  work  which  they  may  perform,  are  found  in  the 
rules  of  many  trade  unions.  (See  BERKSHIRE  SYSTEM;  IMPROVER.) 

[204] 


Hirsch-Duncker  Unions.    See  GEWERKVEREINE. 

Hoboes.    See  MIGRATORY  LABOR. 

Hold-Up  Unionism.     See  PREDATORY  UNIONISM. 

Holding  Company.    See  TRUST. 

Holland,  Labor  Organizations  in.     See  DUTCH  LABOR  OR* 

GANIZATIONS. 

Home  Finishing.  See  HOME  WORK;  TENEMENT-HOUSE  WORK; 
PIN  MONEY  WORKERS. 

Home  Work.  Immense  quantities  of  small  articles  are  manu- 
factured wholly  or  partly  in  the  homes  of  workers.  The  latter  may 
give  practically  all  their  time  to  industrial  tasks,  as  is  usually  the  case 
in  TENEMENT-HOUSE  WORK;  they  may  be  factory  workers  who  eke 
out  their  day  wages  by  night  work  at  home;  or  they  may  be  what 
are  called  PIN  MONEY  WORKERS,  for  whom  the  industrial  task  is  in- 
cidental to  the  customary  home  concerns.  In  any  case,  they  are  in 
much  the  largest  part  women  and  children.  Home  work  is  particularly 
prevalent  in  the  garment-making  industry.  A  considerable  part  of 
the  felling,  hemming,  button-sewing,  basting-pulling,  etc.,  (collec- 
tively known  as  "finishing")  on  certain  garments  is  done  by  home 
workers  in  city  tenements  and  in  the  country  districts  adjacent  to 
garment-making  centres.  But  home  work  is  the  rule  rather  than 
the  exception  in  a  number  of  other  industries  as  well.  Considered 
in  its  general  social  implications,  industrial  home  work  conflicts  with 
family  duties,  children  are  neglected,  homes  are  uncared  for,  mothers 
are  exhausted,  and  the  children  of  home  workers  are  made  to  labor 
during  time  they  should  spend  in  play  and  study.  Even  when  the 
children  do  not  actually  assist  in  the  industrial  home  work,  they  carry 
goods  to  and  from  the  factory  and  inadequately  perform  many  of 
the  household  tasks  that  their  mothers  have  not  the  time  or  energy 
to  do,  such  as  dishwashing,  sweeping,  cooking,  and  taking  care  of 
the  babies.  School  records  indicate  that  "many  children  engaged 
regularly  in  home  work  attend  school  irregularly,  are  dull  when  they 
do  attend  and  frequently  fail  in  their  term's  work."  From  the  trade 
union  point  of  view,  remark  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  home  work  "nec- 
essarily involves  INDIVIDUAL  BARGAINING,  and  makes,  moreover, 
the  enforcement  of  any  COMMON  RULE  practically  impossible.  .  .  . 
Nor  are  these  insidious  effects  confined  merely  to  the  outworkers. 
The  operatives  employed  on  similar  tasks  on  the  employer's  premises 
have  to  submit  to  reductions  of  wages  and  extensions  of  hours, 

[205] 


under  the  threat  of  the  diversion  of  more  and  more  of  the  business  to 
their  out-working  competitors.  Home  work,  in  fact,  makes  all  Trade 
Unionism  impossible."  (See  OUTWORK;  COTTAGE  INDUSTRY;  SWEAT- 
ING SYSTEM;  SUB-CONTRACTING;  FARMING  OUT;  PARASITIC  INDUS- 
TRIES.) 

Homestead  Act.  This  Congressional  enactment  of  1862,  pro- 
viding for  free  occupation  of  public  lands  under  certain  conditions, 
is  generally  regarded  as  early  LABOR  LEGISLATION,  as  it  furnished  an 
outlet  to  laborers  from  the  overcrowded  mines  and  factories  of  the 
East,  and  thus  had  an  important  effect  upon  industrial  conditions 
for  a  long  period. 

Honorary  Card.    See  WITHDRAWAL  CARD. 

Horizontal  Combination.    See  LARGE-SCALE  PRODUCTION. 

Horizontal  Wage.  A  uniform  time  wage  paid  to  all  workers 
in  a  single  class,  regardless  of  differences  in  individual  efficiency. 

Hospital-Fee  System.  Where  an  employer  provided  medical 
and  surgical  treatment  for  sick  or  injured  workers,  it  was  long  cus- 
tomary to  deduct  a  certain  amount  (usually  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar) 
from  the  monthly  or  semi-monthly  wages  of  each  employee,  as  a 
compulsory  fee  for  the  services  thus  provided.  This  "hospital-fee 
system,"  which  still  survives  to  a  limited  extent,  was  a  source  of  much 
dissatisfaction  among  the  workers. 

Hour  Laws.  Legislative  enactments  regulating  the  hours  of 
labor  for  specific  kinds  of  labor  or  for  particular  industries  or  occupa- 
tions are  generally  so  called.  In  the  United  States,  the  numerous 
state  statutes  of  this  sort  may  be  divided  into  four  classes,  the  first 
class  including  those  which  merely  fix  what  shall  be  regarded  as  a 
full  day's  labor  in  the  absence  of  any  contract  between  the  parties, 
and  these  may  either  be  general  or  extended  only  to  special  occupa- 
tions; second,  those  laws  which  fix  the  labor  of  persons  not  fully 
sui  juris,  as  minors,  or,  in  some  states,  women  of  all  ages;  third, 
those  which  fix  the  hours  of  labor  under  the  POLICE  POWER  in  occupa- 
tions specially  dangerous  or  unsanitary,  or  in  which  the  safety  of 
the  public  is  specially  concerned;  and,  finally,  those  which  fix  the 
hours  of  adult  laborers,  male  as  well  as  female,  in  general  occupa- 
tions, and  prohibit  contracts  for  longer  hours  without  special  rates 
or  pay  for  OVERTIME.  While  nearly  all  the  states  have  laws  restrict- 
ing women's  and  children's  hours  of  work  in  all  industries,  and  men's 
hours  in  certain  industries,  only  two  have  imposed  a  general  restric- 

[206] 


tion  regardless  of  age,  sex,  or  kind  of  industry.  The  basis  of  all  hour 
laws  "is  not  the  need  of  the  working  people  for  fewer  hours  in  order 
that  they  may  have  more  leisure  in  general,  but  simply  the  injury 
imposed  by  the  occupation  upon  their  health.  This  of  course  is  a 
broad  position  and  is  indefinite  in  extent.  Legislation  regulating 
the  hours  of  women  applies  to  all  factories,  and  often  in  practice 
makes  it  necessary  for  employers  to  fix  the  same  hours  for  men  in 
the  same  establishments.  While  it  is  doubtless  true  that  in  many 
occupations  excessive  hours  are  injurious  to  the  health  of  men  as 
well  as  women,  conditions  differ  greatly  in  different  industries,  or 
even  in  different  establishments  in  the  same  industry.  Legislation, 
therefore,  upon  this  subject  cannot  be  general,  but  must  be  based 
upon  accurate  investigation  of  the  conditions  in  the  several  indus- 
tries." While  in  manufactures  and  mining  the  regulation  of  hours 
belongs  to  the  several  states,  yet  in  transportation  the  interstate 
character  of  the  industry  brings  the  subject  under  the  powers  of 
Congress.  There  is  one  phase  of  legislation  affecting  the  hours  of 
labor  wherein  the  interests  of  private  employment  are  not  directly 
affected — namely,  the  hours  of  workmen  employed  directly  by  the 
Federal,  state,  and  local  governments.  These  different  governments 
combined  are  undoubtedly  the  largest  employers  of  labor  in  the 
United  States,  and  whatever  labor  legislation  is  enacted  affecting 
them  has  relatively  important  weight  upon  the  condition  of  the 
working  people  in  general.  The  Federal  government  has  been  the 
pioneer  in  reducing  the  hours  of  labor  of  its  employees,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  state  and  local  governments  have  followed  its 
example  in  adopting  the  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY.  (See  SHORT  HOUR 
MOVEMENT;  SIXTEEN-HOUR  LAW;  ADAMSON  LAW;  WORKING  HOURS 
IN  RUSSIA;  WORKING  HOURS  IN  GERMANY.) 

Hour  Work.  The  system  of  wage  payment  under  which  the 
worker  receives  a  specified  sum  per  hour  of  working  time.  The  term 
"hour  work  "  is  sometimes  used  as  a  general  synonym  for  TIME  WORK. 

House  of  Call  System.  A  method  practiced  in  several  im- 
portant British  trades,  by  which  an  employer  needing  a  workman 
is  encouraged  or  required  to  send  to  a  specified  place  of  resort  for  the 
unemployed,  termed  a  "house  of  call,"  and  the  man  who  has  been 
longest  on  the  list  or  "call  book "  of  such  a  place  is,  if  suitable,  deputed 
to  fill  the  vacancy. 

Household  Assistant  System.  In  an  effort  to  solve  the 
vexed  problem  of  DOMESTIC  SERVICE,  the  UNITED  STATES  EMPLOY- 
MENT SERVICE  organized  early  in  1919  a  special  committee  to  study 

[  207] 


this  problem  and  make  recommendations  for  its  solution.  The  com- 
mittee has  outlined  a  system  on  the  following  lines:  "Regular  eight- 
hour  assistants  engaged  to  be  exclusive  employees  for  the  house- 
wives (preferably  working  for  no  one  else  at  the  same  time)  and 
engaged  to  work  quite  as  permanently  as  ever  servants  do.  They 
give  eight  hours  a  day,  six  days  a  week.  They  eat  and  sleep  at  home. 
They  agree  to  give  extra  service  whenever  required,  for  which  they 
are  always  to  receive  extra  pay.  The  wage  is  determined  according 
to  a  sliding  scale  of  efficiency  and  length  of  time  in  employment,  and 
does  and  should  compare  favorably  with  that  which  obtains  in  fac- 
tory, shop,  and  office.  These  assistants  are  engaged  for  regular  specific 
duties,  just  as  resident  maids  are,  but — and  here  is  to  be  found  the 
safety  valve  never  existing  in  our  present  order  of  domestic  service — 
never,  under  any  condition,  is  specialization  permissible.  During  the 
eight  hours  they  hold  themselves  ready  to  do  whatever  the  circum- 
stances of  the  particular  day  require." 

Household  Economy.  ITL  an  historical  sense,  this  is  the 
name  commonly  given  to  the  first  stage  in  economic  organization. 
Household  economy  "is  characterized  by  restriction  of  the  whole 
course  of  economic  activity,  from  production  to  consumption,  to  the 
exclusive  circle  of  the  household  (the  family,  the  clan).  The  character 
and  extent  of  the  production  of  every  household  are  prescribed  by 
the  wants  of  its  members  as  consumers.  Every  product  passes 
through  the  whole  process  of  its  manufacture,  from  the  procuring 
of  the  raw  material  to  its  final  elaboration  in  the  same  domestic 
establishment,  and  reaches  the  consumer  without  any  intermediary. 
Production  and  consumption  are  here  inseparably  interdependent; 
they  form  a  single  uninterrupted  and  indistinguishable  process.  The 
earnings  of  each  communal  group  are  one  with  the  product  of  their 
labor,  and  this,  again,  one  with  the  goods  going  to  satisfy  their 
wants,  that  is,  with  their  consumption The  members  of  the  house- 
hold have  not  merely  to  gather  from  the  soil  its  products,  but  they 
must  also,  by  their  labor,  produce  all  the  necessary  tools  and  imple- 
ments and,  finally,  work  up  and  transform  the  new  products  and 
make  them  fit  for  use."  With  the  increasing  concentration  of  society 
into  walled  towns,  and  the  resulting  complexity  of  economic  organi- 
zation, household  economy  was  succeeded  by  what  is  commonly 
known  as  TOWN  ECONOMY;  that  in  turn  later  giving  place  to  NATIONAL 
ECONOMY.  (See  FAMILY  OR  HOUSEHOLD  SYSTEM;  FEUDALISM.) 

Household  System.    See  FAMILY  SYSTBM. 

[208] 


Household  Union.    See  COMPANY  UNION. 

Housing.  It  is  generally  recognized  that  the  provision  of 
sanitary,  comfortable,  wholesome,  and  inexpensive  living  quarters 
for  wage-earners  is  an  indispensable  requisite  for  any  permanent 
condition  of  social  well-being  and  industrial  peace.  The  investiga- 
tions into  this  subject  made  by  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  IN- 
DUSTRIAL RELATIONS  are  summarized  in  the  following  statements: 
"  (i)  The  present  provisions  for  the  housing  of  workmen  are  generally 
bad,  not  only  in  the  large  cities  but  in  industrial  communities  of 
every  size  and  in  rural  districts.  (2)  Not  only  are  the  houses  and 
tenements  which  are  available  for  workers  largely  insanitary  and 
unfit  for  habitation,  but  they  are  inadequate,  resulting  in  high 
rents,  overcrowding  and  congestion.  (3)  Such  conditions  make  not 
only  for  discomfort  and  unhappiness,  but  for  disease  and  degenera- 
tion. (4)  The  ordinary  method  of  supplying  houses  through  their 
erection  by  private  capitalists  for  investment  and  speculation  has 
rarely  if  ever  been  adequate.  (5)  Excellent  plans  for  the  housing 
of  workmen  have  been  put  into  effect  by  a  number  of  firms  and  cor- 
porations, but  such  measures  have  not  at  all  affected  the  general 
situation,  and  being  dependent  upon  the  volition  of  individuals  can 
not  be  regarded  as  likely  to  greatly  influence  progress.  (6)  The 
tenement-house  acts,  as  well  as  the  health  ordinances  and  building 
regulations  of  municipalities,  while  generally  productive  of  good 
effects,  are  at  best  surface  remedies  and  can  never  cure  the  evils  of 
the  present  housing  situation.  (7)  In  every  important  European 
country  government  aid  and  direct  intervention  to  curb  speculation 
have  proved  to  be  necessary  for  the  promotion  of  any  real  progress. 
(8)  Governmental  action  in  Europe  has  chiefly  taken  the  following 
forms:  extension  of  credit  to  voluntary  non-profit-making  asso- 
ciations; construction  by  the  Government  of  buildings  which  are 
leased  for  long  periods  on  easy  terms;  exemption  from  taxation  and 
other  subsidies  for  homes  constructed  for  occupancy  by  their  owners ; 
legislation  designed  to  prevent  the  holding  of  land  out  of  use  and 
to  secure  for  the  Government  a  part  of  the  'unearned  increment.'" 
(See  BRITISH  HOUSING  ACTS;  COMPANY  HOUSING;  MANCHESTER 
BUILDING  GUILD;  INDUSTRIAL  HOUSING  AND  TRANSPORTATION 
BUREAU.) 

Housing  (Additional  Powers)  Act.  See  BRITISH  HOUSING 
ACTS. 

Housing  and  Town-Planning  Act.  See  BRITISH  HOUSING 
ACTS. 

[209] 


Human  Engineering.  This  term  has  been  applied  to  various 
efforts  "to  restore  as  far  as  possible  the  personal  element  to  industry 
— to  make  it  possible  for  employers  to  gain  an  inkling  of  the  problems 
and  the  aspirations  of  their  employees,  and  for  employees  to  come 
into  touch  with  some  of  the  problems  which  the  business  man  must 
solve."  As  commonly  used,  the  term  is  synonymous,  in  a  broad  and 
general  sense,  with  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

Human  Relations  Department.  See  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
DEPARTMENT. 

Hungarian  Trade  Union  Commission.  See  UNGARLANDIS- 
CHER  GEWERK.SCHAFTSRAT. 

Hunk.    See  HUNKY. 

Hunky.  A  common  nickname  in  the  United  States  for  a  laborer 
belonging  to  one  of  the  Slavic  races.  "Hunk"  and  "bohunk"  are 
alternate  forms  often  used. 

Hunting  the  Fox.    See  CHASSE  AUX  RENARD. 


I.  C.  A.    See  INTERNATIONAL  COOPERATIVE  ALLIANCE. 

I.  F.  T.  U.  See  INTERNATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS. 

I.  L.  P.    See  INDEPENDENT  LABOR  PARTY. 

I.  L.  P.  and  T.  U.  C.  See  IRISH  LABOR  PARTY  AND  TRADES 
UNION  CONGRESS. 

I.  S.  B.    See  INTERNATIONAL  SOCIALIST  BUREAU. 
I.  S.  S.    See  INTERCOLLEGIATE  SOCIALIST  SOCIETY. 

I.  T.  and  G.  W.  U.  See  IRISH  TRANSPORT  AND  GENERAL 
WORKERS'  UNION. 

I.  W.  W.  The  initials  by  which  both  an  individual  member 
of  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD  and  the  organization 
itself  are  most  commonly  known. 

Idle  Money.     See  OUT-OF-WORK  BENEFITS. 

Illegal  Men.  Workers  who  have  not  served  the  regulation 
APPRENTICESHIP  period,  and  thus  gained  the  right  to  follow  their 
trade  as  qualified  JOURNEYMEN,  are  sometimes  so  called. 

Illegal  Strike.     See  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE. 

Immigration.  The  influx  of  great  numbers  of  foreign-born 
laborers,  mostly  unskilled  and  accustomed  to  lower  standards  of 
living  than  the  native-born  workman,  has  played  a  most  important 
part  in  the  American  labor  movement.  According  to  Professor 
Commons,  "no  understanding  of  the  American  movement,  compared 
with  that  especially  of  England,  can  be  acquired  until  one  perceives 
the  importance  of  race  and  language.  These  underlie  the  strenuous 
demand  of  American  unions  for  the  CLOSED  SHOP,  as  compared  with 
the  relative  indifference  of  English  unionists  on  this  subject.  The 
closed  shop  is  essentially  labor's  application  of  the  protective  tariff 

[211] 


principle.  ...  It  is,  therefore,  on  this  question  of  races  and  immigra- 
tion that  the  real  class  conflict  in  American  industry  has  occurred; 
for  the  backward  or  alien  races  have  been  made  the  instruments 
of  employers  to  reduce  the  wages  of  the  older  nationalities.  The 
hostility  to  immigration,  exhibited  by  American  unionists,  is  simply 
evidence  of  their  attack  upon  the  instruments  used  by  their  employers 
to  defeat  their  demands."  The  economic  effects  of  immigration  are 
thus  summarized  by  the  staff  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  IN- 
DUSTRIAL RELATIONS,  on  the  basis  of  evidence  presented  to  the  Com- 
mission: "(i)  The  immigration  policy  of  the  United  States  has 
created  a  number  of  our  most  difficult  and  serious  industrial  problems 
and  has  been  responsible  in  a  considerable  measure  for  the  existing 
state  of  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST.  (2)  The  enormous  influx  of  immigrants 
during  the  past  twenty-five  years  has  already  undermined  the 
AMERICAN  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  for  all  workmen  except  those  in  the 
skilled  trades,  and  has  been  the  largest  single  factor  in  preventing 
the  wage  scale  from  rising  as  rapidly  as  food  prices.  (3)  The  great 
mass  of  non-English-speaking  workers,  who  form  about  one-half  of 
the  labor  force  in  the  basic  industries,  has  done  much  to  prevent  the 
development  of  better  relations  between  employers  and  employees. 
(4)  The  presence  of  such  a  large  proportion  of  immigrants  has  greatly 
hampered  the  formation  of  trade  unions  and  has  tremendously  in- 
creased the  problem  of  securing  effective  and  responsible  organiza- 
tions. (5)  The  unreasonable  prejudice  of  almost  every  class  of 
Americans  toward  the  immigrants,  who  form  such  a  large  proportion 
of  the  labor  force  of  our  industries,  has  been  largely  responsible  for 
the  failure  of  our  Nation  to  reach  a  correct  understanding  of  the 
labor  problem  and  has  promoted  the  harshness  and  brutality  which 
has  so  often  been  manifested  in  connection  with  industrial  disturb- 
ances. It  has  been  and  to  a  large  measure  still  is  felt  possible  to  dis- 
miss the  most  revolting  working  conditions,  the  most  brutal  treat- 
ment, or  the  most  criminal  invasion  of  personal  rights,  by  saying, 
'Oh,  well,  they  are  just  ignorant  foreigners.'"  The  increasing  success 
of  American  trade  unions  in  organizing  the  foreign-born  workers, 
as  apparent  particularly  among  the  coal-mine  and  garment  workers, 
has  lessened  these  evils  in  some  degree;  but  opposition  to  unrestricted 
immigration  is  still  a  prominent  item  in  the  programme  of  organized 
labor.  The  first  GENERAL  LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF 
NATIONS  proposed  that  migrations  of  workers  from  one  country  to 
another  be  permitted  only  after  obtaining  the  approval  of  the  em- 
ployers' and  the  workers'  organizations  of  both  countries  affected. 
In  the  United  States  no  agency  exists  for  consulting  either  employers 

[212] 


or  workers  on  this  question.  A  permanent  immigration  commission 
would,  however,  be  the  natural  channel  through  which  such  mutual 
arrangement  could  be  effected.  (See  CHINESE  EXCLUSION  LAWS; 
JAPANESE-AMERICAN  PASSPORT  AGREEMENT;  ASIATIC  BARRED  ZONE; 
CONTRACT  LABOR;  PADRONE  SYSTEM;  INDUCED  IMMIGRATION;  AS- 
SISTED IMMIGRATION;  BIRDS  OF  PASSAGE;  HARVESTERS;  IMMIGRATION 
BUREAU;  NATURALIZATION  BUREAU;  IMMIGRATION  LAW  OF  1921.) 

Immigration  Bureau.  This  is  the  second  oldest  of  the  five 
permanent  bureaus  of  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR, 
having  been  organized  in  1819  in  the  Treasury  Department  under 
the  title  of  "Office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Immigration."  From 
1903  to  1913  its  functions  were  administered  under  the  direction  of 
the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor;  and  in  the  last-named  year, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  organic  act  creating  the 
Department  of  Labor,  it  became  a  part  thereof.  Under  the  direction 
of  the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  this  Bureau  is  charged  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  various  Federal  acts  regulating  IMMIGRATION  and  the 
admission  of  Chinese  to  the  United  States,  and  with  the  examination 
and  registration  of  alien  seamen  arriving  from  foreign  ports. 

Immigration  Law  of  1921.  This  "act  to  limit  the  immigra- 
tion of  aliens  into  the  United  States,"  which  went  into  effect  June 
3, 1921,  provides  that  "the  number  of  aliens  of  any  nationality  who 
may  be  admitted  under  the  immigration  laws  to  the  United  States 
in  any  fiscal  year  shall  be  limited  to  3  per  centum  of  the  number  of 
foreign-born  persons  of  such  nationality  resident  in  the  United 
States  as  determined  by  the  United  States  census  of  1910."  In 
practical  effect,  the  law  applies  only  to  members  of  the  working 
classes. 

Impartial  Chairman.  Joint  arbitration  boards  or  committees 
of  employers  and  workers  frequently  utilize  the  services  of  an  "out- 
side," "neutral,"  or  "independent"  person,  who  often  presides  at 
meetings  of  the  board  or  committee  and  in  some  cases  individually 
decides  the  matter  in  dispute.  In  the  British  trade  machinery  for 
CONCILIATION  and  ARBITRATION,  the  impartial  chairman  (also  called 
"neutral"  or  "independent"  chairman)  has  long  been  prominent. 
"The  power  of  this  impartial  chairman,"  to  quote  O'Brien's  "Labor 
Organization,"  "differs  greatly  in  different  cases.  For  instance, 
in  the  Mining  Conciliation  Boards  an  independent  chairman  is  only 
called  in  when  the  two  parties  fail  to  agree,  and  has  only  power  to 
decide  between  the  rival  proposals  of  the  two  sides,  without  being 
15  [213] 


able  to  suggest  a  solution  of  his  own,  or  to  decide  in  favor  of  a  com- 
promise. On  the  other  hand,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  all  disputes 
which  cannot  be  settled  by  direct  negotiations  must  be  submitted 
to  arbitration,  and  the  decision  of  the  arbitrator,  whether  it  completely 
satisfies  both  sides  or  not,  is  made  absolutely  final  under  the  sanction 
of  a  penalty.  Again,  the  period  when  the  impartial  chairman  appears 
on  the  scene  is  not  the  same  in  every  case.  Sometimes  he  is  present 
from  the  beginning  of  the  negotiation,  and  sometimes  he  is  only 
introduced  when  the  parties  have  failed  to  agree."  In  America,  the 
impartial  chairman  plays  a  particularly  important  role  in  the  clothing 
manufacturing  trades.  The  success  of  the  HART,  SCHAFFNER  & 
MARX  LABOR  AGREEMENT  led  to  the  gradual  adoption  of  a  similar 
form  of  agreement  between  employers  and  workers  in  each  of  the 
large  American  clothing  centres — Chicago,  Boston,  New  York, 
Rochester,  Baltimore,  and  Montreal.  In  each  city  a  joint  board  of 
arbitration  was  organized,  representative  of  all  or  most  of  the  em- 
ployers and  organized  workers  in  the  city;  and  a  trained  industrial 
expert  was  chosen  as  impartial  chairman  of  the  board.  This  official, 
paid  and  trusted  by  both  sides,  acts  largely  in  the  capacity  of  a  court 
judge;  trade  disputes  are  argued  before  him  and  his  decision  is  con- 
sidered final,  except  in  rare  cases  when  appeal  is  taken  to  the  whole 
arbitration  board.  (See  CONTINUOUS  ARBITRATION;  PROTOCOL;  IM- 
PARTIAL MACHINERY.) 

Impartial  Machinery.  This  term  is  usually  applied  to  the 
detailed  arrangements,  now  often  specified  in  local  or  national 
TRADE  AGREEMENTS,  for  investigating  and  adjusting  minor  disputes 
arising  within  a  particular  trade.  The  most  common  form  of  ma- 
chinery provided  is  the  following:  The  parties  to  any  particular 
dispute  which  may  arise  are  bound,  in  case  they  can  not  agree 
between  themselves,  either  to  select  one  or  more  persons  to  act  as 
an  "ARBITRATION  committee"  for  that  dispute,  or  to  refer  it  to  a 
permanent  committee  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  persons 
chosen  by  the  organizations  of  employers  and  employees,  respec- 
tively. If  these  representatives  of  the  parties  can  not  agree,  they  are 
to  select  some  impartial  person  to  act  as  an  "umpire"  or  odd  mem- 
ber of  the  board,  or  to  call  in  an  umpire  previously  agreed  upon  as 
the  ultimate  arbitrator  of  all  disputes.  The  umpire  either  alone 
renders  a  decision,  or  he  sits  in  conjunction  with  the  other  members 
and  they  arrive  at  a  decision  by  majority  vote.  In  nearly  all  in- 
stances where  written  agreements  provide  for  the  settlement  of 
disputes  as  to  interpretation  arising  under  them,  they  permit  the 

[214! 


ultimate  decision  of  the  differences  by  an  impartial  umpire.  It  is 
generally  stipulated  that  this  person  shall  be  neither  an  employer 
nor  a  wage-earner  (in  the  common  sense),  nor  an  incumbent  of 
political  office.  In  some  of  the  more  elaborate  systems  there  are 
special  officials  and  committees  for  investigating  and  (if  possible) 
adjusting  grievances  before  they  develop  into  definite  disputes. 
(See  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN;  CONTINUOUS  ARBITRATION.) 

Impossibilist,  Impossibilism.  In  the  field  of  socialism  or 
labor,  an  "  impossibilist "  is  a  revolutionary  or  extremist — one  who, 
according  to  the  opposing  or  OPPORTUNIST  school,  is  seeking  the  im- 
possible. "Impossibilism"  is  an  opponent's  designation  for  the 
policy  or  philosophy  of  such  a  person.  (See  LEFT.) 

Improver.  In  an  industrial  sense,  "one  who  labors  at  a  trade 
for  the  purpose  of  increasing  his  knowledge  or  skill,  and  who 
accepts  the  opportunity  of  improvement  as  compensation  in  whole 
or  in  part  for  services  rendered."  An  improver  is  usually  one  who 
has  passed  the  APPRENTICE  age,  but  is  allowed  by  the  trade  union 
to  work  at  less  than  the  union  scale  in  order  to  acquire  the  pro- 
ficiency of  a  JOURNEYMAN.  In  some  trades  a  worker  must  serve  a 
specified  term  as  a  HELPER  and  another  term  as  an  improver  before  he 
can  be  classed  as  a  journeyman.  In  other  trades  the  helper  is  called 
an  improver.  (See  LEARNER.) 

Incorporation  of  Trade  Unions.  Labor  organizations  in  the 
United  States  have  usually  been  considered  voluntary  associations, 
not  subject  as  collective  bodies  to  legal  action.  But  employers  have 
long  and  frequently  urged  that  trade  unions  should  be  required  to 
incorporate  under  the  various  state  laws,  in  order  that  they  may  be 
held  legally  accountable  for  breach  of  contract  and  other  civil 
or  criminal  offenses.  Labor  leaders  oppose  this  proposal — mainly 
on  the  ground  that  their  funds  would  be  subject  to  continual  danger 
and  attack  by  court  action  in  cases  of  labor  disputes,  thus  seriously 
crippling  if  not  nullifying  the  fighting  strength  of  trade  unionism. 
In  England  this  issue  was  fought  out  and  practically  settled  in  con- 
nection with  the  TAFP  VALE  CASE  and  the  resulting  TRADE  DISPUTES 
ACT  of  1906;  but  it  still  remains  a  much  debated  question  in 
American  industrial  affairs. 

Increasing  Misery  Theory.  A  much  discussed  and  much 
disputed  tenet  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM,  derived  from  the  following 
statement  by  Karl  Marx:  "Along  with  the  constantly  diminishing 
number  of  magnates  of  capital,  who  usurp  and  monopolize  all  ad  van- 

[215] 


tages  of  this  process  of  transformation,  grow  the  mass  of  misery, 
oppression,  slavery,  degradation,  exploitation;  but  with  this  too 
grows  the  revolt  of  the  working-class,  a  class  always  increasing 
in  numbers,  and  disciplined,  united,  organized  by  the  very  mechanism 
of  the  process  of  capitalist  production  itself."  Defenders  of  this 
theory  maintain  that  it  refers  to  mental  rather  than  physical  misery 
— that  the  more  the  working  classes  rise  intellectually,  the  more 
keenly  are  they  likely  to  feel  the  burden  of  "oppression,"  "slavery," 
and  "degradation." 

Incremental  Scale.  As  opposed  to  a  flat  rate  for  TIME  WORK, 
this  is  a  scale  of  wage  payments  which  ranges  upward  from  an 
agreed  minimum,  and  varies  either  with  the  quality  or  nature  of 
the  work  done,  or  with  the  length  of  service  or  the  qualifications  of 
the  worker  concerned.  (See  GRADING  SYSTEM  ;  WAGE  DIFFERENTIAL.) 

Indentured  Service.  The  system,  common  in  the  i;th  and 
1 8th  centuries,  under  which  labor  was  performed  according  to  a 
written  agreement  between  master  and  servant,  running  for  a  speci- 
fied number  of  years.  "The  master  was  not  free  to  discharge  his 
servant  during  the  term  of  his  contract,  nor  the  servant  free  to  quit 
his  master  and  to  work  for  another.  The  laborer  was  to  serve  the 
master  faithfully,  keep  his  secrets,  obey  his  lawful  commands,  and 
guard  his  interests.  On  the  other  hand,  the  master  was  to  give  his 
servant  a  living,  to  protect  him  and  look  after  his  welfare."  Inden- 
tured service  marks  the  transition  stage,  historically,  from  SERVILE 
LABOR  to  so-called  free  labor  under  the  modern  WAGE  SYSTEM. 
It  still  exists,  however,  though  in  a  much  modified  form  and  to 
only  a  small  extent,  in  the  system  of  indentured  APPRENTICESHIP 
occasionally  found  in  some  highly  skilled  trade.  (See  CONTRACT 
LABOR.) 

Independent  American  Shop.     See  AMERICAN  PLAN. 
Independent  Chairman.     See  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN. 

Independent  Labor  Party.  A  British  organization,  formed 
in  1892  under  the  leadership  of  Keir  Hardy,  Tom  Mann,  and  Bruce 
Glasier,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  collective  ownership  of  the 
means  of  production  and  exchange  through  the  method  of  direct 
labor  representation  in  Parliament  and  in  local  government  bodies. 
It  is  now  the  largest  socialist  body  in  the  country.  It  cooperates 
with  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY,  in  the  formation  and  development 
of  which  it  has  been  an  important  factor,  and  with  the  TRADES  UNION 

[216] 


CONGRESS.  While  the  party  has  withdrawn  from  the  second  INTER- 
NATIONALE, under  the  influence  of  a  strong  left-wing  movement,  it 
has  not  yet  affiliated  with  the  third.  An  "Information  Committee," 
for  the  collection  and  distribution  of  data  on  home  and  foreign 
affairs,  was  established  as  part  of  the  organization's  work  in  1919. 
(See  INTERNATIONAL  WORKING  UNION  OP  SOCIALIST  PARTIES.) 

Independent  Local.  A  LOCAL  which  is  not  affiliated  with 
the  national  union  in  the  same  craft  or  industry.  Independent 
locals  are  usually  the  result  of  SECESSION  from  the  national  organiza- 
tion. In  some  cases,  however,  they  precede  the  national  union, 
refusing  for  one  reason  or  another  to  affiliate  with  the  latter  body 
when  it  is  organized,  although  often  maintaining  friendly  relations 
with  it. 

Independent  Operator.     See  OPERATOR. 

Independent  Strike.  One  that  is  inaugurated  by  a  local 
union  without  the  consent  of  the  officers  of  the  national  union, 
or  without  compliance  with  the  rules  of  the  national  union.  While 
some  locals  have  complete  autonomy  in  the  matter  of  strikes,  and  in 
others  the  independent  strike  is  permitted  in  certain  circumstances, 
as  a  rule  the  national  unions  forbid  any  strike  without  the  official 
sanction  of  the  national  executive  board  of  the  union  concerned. 
The  usual  penalty  for  entering  on  an  independent  strike  is  the  with- 
holding of  STRIKE  PAY  from  the  offending  LOCAL.  The  individual 
strikers  are  sometimes  fined,  suspended  or  expelled;  and  in  more 
extreme  cases  the  charter  of  the  offending  local  is  suspended  or 
revoked.  But  in  actual  practice,  the  power  of  the  national  officers 
to  punish  a  union  for  entering  upon  an  unauthorized  strike  is  likely 
to  be  waived.  When  a  strike  is  once  begun  the  superior  officers  of 
a  union  are  likely  to  consider  that  their  duty  to  the  organization, 
to  their  fellow-members,  and  to  their  class  will  be  best  done  by 
supporting  those  to  whom  they  are  bound  by  fraternal  ties.  In- 
dependent strikes  are  sometimes  referred  to  as  "illegal,"  "outlaw," 
"runaway,"  or  "wildcat"  strikes.  They  have  occurred  with  such 
increasing  frequency  during  the  past  few  years  as  seriously  to  alarm 
conservative  union  leaders.  (See  VACATIONISTS.) 

Independent  Union.  See  INDEPENDENT  LOCAL;  SELBSTAND- 
IGE  VEREINE. 

Indeterminate  Agreement.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Indeterminate  Contract.    See  CONTRACT  AT  WILL. 

[217] 


Index  Numbers.  The  relative  fluctuations  of  collective  com- 
modity prices,  wages,  etc.,  from  month  to  month  or  from  year  to 
year  are  now  generally  expressed  by  so-called  "index  numbers." 
The  method  of  arriving  at  such  index  numbers,  with  reference  to 
commodity  prices  for  example,  is  as  follows:  A  certain  number  of 
commodities  is  selected,  and  the  aggregate  prices  of  specified  quan- 
tities of  these  commodities  at  a  certain  fixed  time,  or  an  average  of 
the  aggregate  prices  for  such  fixed  time,  is  taken  as  a  base  and  desig- 
nated as  100.  The  aggregate  prices,  or  an  average  of  the  aggregate, 
of  the  same  commodities  at  other  times  are  then  calculated  as  per- 
centages of  this  base.  Index  numbers  for  commodities  and  wages 
are  published  monthly  by  the  labor  departments  of  several  prominent 
countries.  They  are  an  important  factor  in  determining  variations 
in  the  COST  OF  LIVING  and  the  relation  between  nominal  wages  and 
real  wages.  (See  WEIGHTED  INDEX  NUMBERS.) 

India,  Labor  Organization  in.  Owing  to  various  reasons — 
the  extreme  poverty,  long  hours  of  labor,  overcrowding  in  cities, 
lack  of  education,  government  repression,  etc. — organization  of  the 
workers  in  India  has  until  very  recently  been  of  a  limited  and  primitive 
sort.  But  as  a  result  of  the  recent  war,  conditions  are  now  rapidly 
changing.  The  thousands  of  Indian  troops  serving  on  the  western 
front  have  brought  back  western  ideas  of  working  conditions  and 
wages,  and  this,  added  to  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living — an 
increase  which  in  many  cases  makes  it  impossible  for  the  Indian 
worker  to  eke  out  an  existence  on  the  old  wage — has  resulted  in  much 
unrest.  There  has  developed  considerable  agitation  for  improvements 
in  working  conditions  aside  from  a  mere  rise  in  wages,  and  organiza- 
tion of  the  working  classes  is  making  rapid  headway.  The  first 
regular  trade  unions  were  formed  in  1918  in  Madras,  when  the  Madras 
Labor  Union  was  established,  with  separate  sections  for  the  textile 
workers,  the  tramwaymen,  the  railway  workshop  employees,  the 
rickshawattahs,  and  the  printers.  This  movement  in  a  couple  of 
years  attained  17,000  members.  Equally  important  developments 
have  taken  place  in  Bombay  and  at  other  industrial  centres.  In 
Bombay,  a  mass  conference  of  mill  hands  in  December,  1919,  sum- 
moned by  the  Kamgar  Hitwardhak  Sabha  (an  Indian  Working 
Men's  Welfare  Association),  inaugurated  the  new  movement.  There 
followed  the  Bombay  cotton  strike  of  January,  1920,  which  involved 
200,000  workers,  and  ended  in  a  settlement  reported  as  securing  a 
ten-hour  day  and  a  rise  of  twenty  to  forty  per  cent  in  wages.  During 
1920  industrial  agitation  and  disputes  spread  all  over  the  Indian 

[218] 


industrial  centres.  In  the  single  month  of  October  twenty-three 
large-scale  strikes  and  lockouts  were  reported,  involving  weavers, 
tramwaymen,  coolies,  gas  workers,  railway  workers,  printers,  paper- 
mill  and  sawmill  workers,  cement  workers,  etc.,  and  taking  place 
in  districts  as  widely  separated  as  Assam,  Bangalore,  Bombay, 
Calcutta,  Lucknow,  Mysore,  and  Rangoon.  In  October,  1920,  the 
first  ALL-INDIA  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS  assembled  at  Bombay. 
(See  WORKERS'  WELFARE  LEAGUE  OF  INDIA;  HARTAL.) 

Indirect  Action.  See  POLITICAL  ACTION;  PARLIAMENTARISM; 
LEGAL  ENACTMENT. 

Individual  Bargaining.  As  opposed  to  COLLECTIVE  BARGAIN- 
ING, this  is  the  method  by  which  an  individual  worker  arranges  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  his  employment  directly  with  an  employer 
or  the  latter's  representative,  without  the  advantage  of  group  pres- 
sure and  on  the  basis  simply  of  his  own  and  the  employer's  necessities 
at  the  moment.  The  tremendous  inequality  of  bargaining  strength 
between  the  two  parties  under  this  method  is  well  indicated  in  the 
FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION'S  report:  "The  workman  has  one 
thing  to  sell — his  labor.  He  has  perhaps  devoted  years  to  the  acquire- 
ment of  a  skill  which  gives  his  labor  power  a  relatively  high  value, 
so  long  as  he  is  able  to  put  it  to  use  in  combination  with  certain 
materials  and  machinery.  A  single  legal  person  has,  to  a  very  great 
extent,  the  control  of  such  machinery,  and  in  particular  of  such 
materials.  Under  such  conditions  there  is  little  competition  for  the 
workman's  labor.  Control  of  the  means  of  production  gives  power 
to  dictate  to  the  workingman  upon  what  terms  he  shall  make  use  of 
them.  .  .  .  The  tendency  toward  unified  control  of  capital  and  business 
has  only  intensified,  without  essentially  changing,  the  disadvantages 
of  the  wage-earner  in  his  dealings  with  employers.  Even  when  the 
number  of  employers  is  considerable,  the  number  of  workmen  is  far 
greater.  The  competition  for  work  is  normally  far  sharper  than  the 
competition  for  workmen.  The  seller  of  labor  is  worse  off  in  several 
respects  than  the  seller  of  almost  any  physical  product.  His  com- 
modity is  in  the  highest  degree  perishable.  That  which  is  not  sold 
today  disappears  absolutely.  Moreover,  in  the  majority  of  cases  the 
workingman  is  dependent  upon  the  sale  of  his  labor  for  his  support. 
If  he  refuses  an  offer,  the  next  comer  will  probably  accept  it,  and  he 
is  likely  to  be  left  destitute.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  accepts  less 
than  a  certain  minimum  wage,  his  efficiency  suffers.  If  the  other 
conditions  of  the  market  remain  unchanged,  he  can  get  even  less 
tomorrow  than  today;  for  he  can  accomplish  less.  .  .  .  The  art  of 

[219] 


bargaining  consists  in  a  great  degree  in  concealing  one's  own  best 
terms  and  learning  one's  opponent's.  The  workman  cannot  conceal 
his  need  of  work,  and  cannot  know  how  much  his  employer  needs 
men.  He  is  relatively  ignorant  of  the  conditions  of  the  market, 
both  the  market  for  labor  and  the  market  for  the  goods  which  his 
employer  produces.  It  is  the  business  of  his  employer  to  keep  him- 
self informed  of  the  state  of  both  markets.  The  employer  is  able  to 
judge  what  he  can  afford  to  pay  for  a  given  quantity  and  kind  of  labor 
rather  than  do  without  it.  He  is  also  in  a  position  to  judge  at  what 
rate  he  can  probably  get  it.  Under  such  conditions  the  result  of 
free  competition  is  to  throw  the  advantages  of  the  bargain  into  the 
hands  of  the  stronger  bargainer."  As  a  result,  the  individual  worker 
usually  makes  no  bargain  at  all — he  merely  accepts  or  rejects  the 
terms  offered  by  the  employer.  Individual  bargaining  is  sometimes 
known  among  trade  unionists  as  "competitive  bargaining."  (See 
FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT;  COMMON  RULE.) 

Individual  Bonus  System.     See  BONUS  SYSTEM. 
Individual  Effort  System.     See  EMERSON  SYSTEM. 

Individual  Piece  Work.  As  distinguished  from  COLLECTIVE 
PIECE  WORK,  this  is  the  arrangement  under  which  piece  work  wages 
are  paid  for  the  output  of  a  single  worker — the  common  or  usual 
basis.  Also  called  "single-handed  piece  work." 

Individual  Strike.    See  STRIKE  IN  DETAIL. 

Individualism.  In  a  general  sense,  that  theory  or  attitude  of 
mind  which  opposes  State  or  other  collective  interference  in  social 
and  economic  affairs,  which  favors  independent  action  rather  than 
cooperative  effort,  and  which  would  limit  the  functions  of  the  State 
to  the  maintenance  of  order,  protection  of  property,  and  national 
defense.  Individualism  involves  or  implies,  according  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb,  "the  conception  of  society  as  a  struggle  between  warring 
interests;  the  feeling  that  every  man  and  every  class  is  entitled  to  all 
that  they  can  get,  and  to  nothing  more;  the  assumption  that  success 
in  the  fight  is  an  adequate  test  of  merit,  and,  indeed,  the  only  one 
possible;  and  the  bounding  optimism  which  can  confidently  place  the 
welfare  of  the  community  under  the  guardianship  of  self -interest." 
It  thus  represents  the  opposite  extreme  from  PATERNALISM  and  COL- 
LECTIVISM, and  is  in  general  identified  with  the  policy  of  LAISSEZ 

FAIRE. 

Individualist  Anarchism.     See  ANARCHISM. 

[  220  ] 


Induced  Immigration.  Refers  to  the  practice  of  inducing, 
assisting,  encouraging,  or  soliciting  foreign  laborers  to  come  to  this 
country  to  find  employment  here,  whether  under  contract  or  by  any 
kind  of  promise  or  agreement,  express  or  implied,  true  or  false.  (See 
CONTRACT  LABOR;  PADRONE  SYSTEM;  ASSISTED  IMMIGRATION.) 

Industrial  Accident  Insurance.  See  WORKMEN'S  COMPEN- 
SATION. 

Industrial  Action.  As  opposed  to  POLITICAL  ACTION,  indus- 
trial action  signifies  the  use  of  trade  union  organization  to  express 
directly  the  policies  and  interests  of  labor  without  going  through 
the  long  intermediate  process  of  parliamentary  election  and  debate. 
Whereas  political  action  relies  upon  the  ballot,  industrial  action  lays 
emphasis  upon  the  strength  and  influence  of  the  industrially  effective 
group.  (See  DIRECT  ACTION;  ECONOMIC  ACTION.) 

Industrial  Agreement.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Industrial  Arbitration  in  Russia.  In  nationalized  (State- 
conducted)  Russian  industries  the  terms  of  employment  are  regulated 
by  rules  framed  by  the  labor  organizations,  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT  OF  LABOR.  In  establishments  oper- 
ated by  private  capitalists  the  terms  of  employment  are  regulated  by 
rules  agreed  upon  between  the  owners  or  directors  of  the  establish- 
ments and  the  labor  unions,  likewise  subject  to  approval  by  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor.  If  no  agreement  can  be  reached 
between  management  and  workers,  the  terms  of  employment  are 
drawn  up  by  the  trade  unions  and  submitted  for  approval  to  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor.  This  provision  of  the  Soviet 
labor  laws  is  theoretically  tantamount  to  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  People's  Commissariat 
is  a  Soviet  institution,  in  the  election  of  which  the  workers  them- 
selves have  a  dominating  vote. 

Industrial  Benefit  Societies.  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES  organ- 
ized on  an  occupational  or  industrial  basis — a  type  common  in  Europe 
but  not  yet  developed  to  any  considerable  extent  in  the  United  States. 

Industrial  Brotherhood.  An  organization  founded  soon 
after  the  collapse  of  the  NATIONAL  LABOR  UNION  in  1872.  As  origi- 
nally constituted,  it  was  a  federation  of  four  leading  national  craft 
unions  of  that  time — the  iron  moulders,  machinists,  coopers,  and 
typographers.  It  failed  to  survive  the  long  period  of  industrial 
depression  that  followed  the  panic  of  1873. 

[221] 


Industrial  Cooperation.     See  PRODUCERS'  COOPERATION. 

industrial  Council.  Any  delegate  body  meeting  periodically 
to  consider  matters  of  industrial  concern  may  properly  be  called  an 
industrial  council.  In  common  usage,  however,  this  term  usually 
denotes  a  "joint"  body,  representative  of  both  employers  and  wage- 
earners  in  a  single  industrial  shop  or  works,  a  single  industry  within 
a  given  geographical  area,  or  a  number  of  industries  within  a  given 
area.  Thus,  it  may  denote  at  one  extreme  such  a  relatively  unimpor- 
tant body  as  a  JOINT  SHOP  COMMITTEE;  and,  at  the  other  extreme, 
such  a  nationally  comprehensive  organization  as  the  French  CONSEIL 
SUPERIEUR  DU  TRAVAIL  or  the  German  REICHSWIRTSCHAFTSRAT. 
In  between  these  two  extremes  come  many  varieties  and  forms, 
some  of  which  are  specifically  noted  in  the  cross  references  below. 
While  an  industrial  council,  as  mentioned  above,  is  commonly 
understood  to  be  a  "joint"  body,  the  term  "JOINT  INDUSTRIAL 
COUNCIL"  is  so  generally  associated  with  the  WHITLEY  PLAN  that  the 
definition  under  that  heading  in  the  present  volume  is  confined  to 
the  Whitley  council  form.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  SYSTEM  IN 
BELGIUM;  ARBEITSGEMEINSCHAFTEN;  COUNCILS  OF  LABOR  AND 
INDUSTRY;  ARBEITERKAMMERN;  KAMERS  VAN  ARBEID;  INTERIM  IN- 
DUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION  COMMITTEES;  BUILDING  TRADES  PAR- 
LIAMENT; PORT  LABOR  COMMITTEE;  MARKET  BOARDS;  NATIONAL 
BOARD  FOR  JURISDICTIONAL  AWARDS  IN  THE  BUILDING  INDUSTRY; 
PRINTING  TRADES  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  CONFERENCE  COUNCIL; 
NATIONAL  ADJUSTMENT  COMMISSION;  WORKS  COMMITTEE;  EMPLOYEE 
REPRESENTATION;  JOINT  CONFERENCE  SYSTEM.) 

Industrial  Council  System  in  Belgium.  The  post-war 
problems  of  wage  adjustment,  etc.,  in  Belgium  have  since  the  armis- 
tice been  settled  almost  wholly  by  joint  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  of 
employers  and  workers.  As  both  groups  are  highly  organized,  mostly 
in  national  unions  for  each  industry,  with  single  national  organiza- 
tions for  the  whole  of  the  mining  industry,  the  metallurgic  industries, 
etc.,  on  both  sides,  they  easily  came  together  for  national  confer- 
ences in  each  group  of  trades.  Representatives  of  the  employers' 
associations  met  an  equal  number  of  labor  union  delegates,  and  all 
the  government  was  asked  to  do  was  to  nominate  officials  of  the  De- 
partment of  Industry  and  Labor  as  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMEN  and  pro- 
vide them  with  the  necessary  secretarial  staff  to  record  the  decisions 
and  make  them  public.  By  this  simple  form  of  COLLECTIVE  BAR- 
GAINING, with  a  minimum  of  official  interference,  labor  conditions 
were  fixed  on  a  national  scale  before  the  resumption  of  work.  In -all 

[  222  J 


the  important  industries  these  joint  conferences  of  organized  em- 
ployers and  workers  have  developed  into  permanent  industrial 
councils  for  the  settlement  of  labor  conditions,  on  a  nation-wide 
scale,  with  district  and  shop  councils  for  the  adjustment  of  local 
problems. 

Industrial  Counsellors.  A  name  sometimes  given  to  public 
officials  whose  function  it  is  to  study  methods  of  PERSONNEL  ADMIN- 
ISTRATION and  conference  relationships  and  through  consultation 
with  employers  and  labor  leaders  aid  "in  the  development  of  measures 
which  will  make  possible  the  necessary  economic  adjustments  with 
a  minimum  of  strikes,  lockouts,  and  other  disturbances."  Two  per- 
manent "industrial  counsellors"  have  recently  been  appointed  by 
the  New  York  State  Industrial  Commission. 

Industrial  Courts  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary  enactment 
of  November,  1919,  which  provides  for  a  permanent  central  Court 
of  Arbitration  (called  the  Industrial  Court),  to  which  recourse  can 
be  had  by  parties  to  industrial  disputes,  if  both  sides  consent.  The 
Court  consists  of  an  unspecified  number  of  members,  appointed  by 
the  Minister  of  Labor,  "of  whom  some  shall  be  independent  persons, 
some  shall  be  persons  representing  employers,  and  some  shall  be 
persons  representing  workmen,  and  in  addition  one  or  more  women." 
Normally  the  Court  sits  in  London,  but  when  necessary  it  arranges 
to  hear  cases  elsewhere.  The  President  of  the  Court  may  also 
depute  individual  members  to  hear  cases  locally  in  certain  circum-^ 
stances.  There  is  a  further  provision  under  the  same  Act  for  the 
appointment  by  the  Minister  of  Labor  of  special  courts  of  inquiry, 
to  make  immediate  investigation  of  any  existing  or  apprehended 
dispute  (whether  or  not  it  is  directly  referred  to  the  Court  for  settle- 
ment) and  to  give  an  impartial  report  of  its  merits  to  the  public. 
While  the  courts  of  inquiry  may  compel  the  production  of  documents 
and  attendance  of  witnesses  in  securing  facts  regarding  a  labor  dis- 
pute, neither  they  nor  the  permanent  Industrial  Court  have  compul- 
sory powers  to  enforce  their  findings  or  decisions,  and  the  Act 
contains  no  prohibition  of  strikes. 

Industrial  Cycle  or  Economic  Cycle.  A  term  somewhat 
loosely  used  to  denote  the  period  of  time  (commonly  from  seven  to 
fifteen  years)  between  an  industrial  boom  and  an  industrial  depres- 
sion, based  on  the  theory  that  such  booms  and  depressions  recur  at 
fairly  regular  intervals,  the  conditions  in  the  intervening  periods 
leading  progressively  or  retrogressively  from  one  to  the  other. 

[223] 


The  causes  of  such  recurring  crises  are  obscure.  "From  the  Mal- 
thusian  theory  of  over-population,  through  Jevons'  theory  of  sun 
spots,  Hobson's  theory  of  over-production  due  to  excessive  sav- 
ings, and  the  theory  of  psychological  cycles,  over-speculation, 
Tugan  Baronowsky's  theory  of  misdirected  production  down  to 
the  theory  of  under-consumption  because  of  the  extraction  of 
surplus  value,  various  explanations  have  been  given  by  some  eco- 
nomic writers  only  to  be  discarded  by  others.  Socialists  have 
designated  industrial  crises,  with  their  necessary  consequences,  UN- 
EMPLOYMENT and  distress,  as  the  inevitable  consequences  of  com- 
petitive industry."  (See  CYCLICAL  FLUCTUATIONS.) 

Industrial  Democracy.  This  phrase  is  now  commonly  ap- 
plied to  almost  any  actual  or  imagined  industrial  arrangement  in 
which  the  interests  of  the  workers  are  served  and  their  will  expressed 
in  the  general  conduct  of  industry — either  relatively  or  absolutely. 
It  may  denote,  at  one  extreme,  complete  WORKERS'  CONTROL  or, 
at  the  other,  merely  some  particular  method  of  joint  industrial  regu- 
lation and  adjustment — as,  for  example,  the  LEITCH  PLAN.  Properly 
speaking,  industrial  democracy  implies  the  joint  sharing  between 
workers  and  management  of  the  direction  and  control  of  industry, 
no  less  than  of  its  regulation.  It  implies  that  the  worker  shall 
have  an  equal  voice  with  the  management  in  determining  the  con- 
ditions and  the  terms  under  which  they  must  work,  and  that  they 
shall  take  an  equal  share  of  responsibility  for  the  joint  decisions 
arrived  at.  In  this  sense,  industrial  democracy  is  as  yet  almost 
wholly  an  ideal  rather  than  an  actuality.  Some  approach  has  been 
made  by  the  avenue  of  trade  unionism,  and  by  the  method  of  joint 
INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS;  but  industrial  government  is  still  a  very  long 
way  from  the  essential  principles  of  democracy.  (See  INDUSTRIAL 
SELF-GOVERNMENT.) 

Industrial  Democrats.  A  name  sometimes  assumed  by,  or 
given  to,  advocates  of  SYNDICALISM  in  Great  Britain. 

Industrial  Diseases.     See  OCCUPATIONAL  DISEASES. 

Industrial  Education.  Three  distinct  and  separate  forms 
of  instruction,  often  confused  in  the  public  mind,  may  be  defined 
under  this  heading,  as  follows:  (i)  Trade  education,  or  the  training 
of  young  persons  for  a  specific  trade  or  craft,  in  substitution  for 
APPRENTICESHIP;  (2)  technical  education,  or  the  teaching  of  the 
sciences  in  their  practical  application  to  the  material  interests  of 
man,  for  the  purpose  of  developing  scientific  industrial  specialists; 

[224] 


(3)  manual  training,  or  instruction  in  hand-work,  with  or  without 
the  use  of  tools,  as  part  of  a  complete  educational  discipline.  What  is 
called  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  may  be  either  trade  education  or 
technical  education,  or  it  may  be  unrelated  to  either — as  in  the  case 
of  instruction  for  non-industrial  vocations.  The  purpose  of  edu- 
cation in  the  broader  sense  need  not  and  should  not  be  lost  in  indus- 
trial education;  but  it  is  here  a  subordinate  purpose.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  many  courses  in  industrial  education  do  include  instruction 
in  general  subjects.  Nevertheless,  a  distinction  must  be  maintained 
between  the  various  forms  of  industrial  education  and  general  WORK- 
ING-CLASS EDUCATION  of  a  non-vocational  character.  (See  TRADE 
SCHOOLS;  PART-TIME  SCHOOLS;  CONVERSION  TRAINING.) 

Industrial  Employment  Survey.  The  successful  adjustment 
of  labor  supply  and  demand  will  often  involve  the  migration  of 
workers  from  one  state  to  another.  Realizing  that  "the  Federal 
government  is  the  only  means  by  which  can  be  secured  sufficient 
uniformity  of  method  and  interchange  of  information  as  to  accom- 
plish the  desired  results,"  the  UNITED  STATES  EMPLOYMENT  SERVICE 
began  early  in  December,  1920,  the  organization  of  an  industrial 
employment  survey  of  the  United  States.  For  the  purpose  of  this 
survey,  the  country  has  been  divided  into  nine  districts,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  United  States  census,  embracing  at  the  beginning  65 
cities  of  leading  industrial  importance  from  which  pay-roll  data 
are  secured,  and  231  cities  from 'which  industrial  employment  in- 
formation is  obtained.  A  district  director  is  in  charge  of  each 
district.  In  industrial  centres,  special  agents  secure  actual  pay-roll 
data.  The  totals  of  the  information  secured  are  telegraphed,  in 
code,  to  the  administrative  offices  in  Washington,  where  the  reports 
are  analyzed  and  interpretations  and  tabulations  made.  It  is 
planned  to  make  semi-monthly  publication  of  the  statistical  results 
of  the  survey. 

Industrial  Engineering.    See  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT. 

Industrial  Evolution.  This  term  refers,  in  general,  to  the 
gradual  development  of  the  social  organization  for  production  and 
exchange,  from  medieval  times  to  the  present,  and  to  the  changing 
status  of  the  individual  laborer  in  relation  to  or  as  determined  by 
that  development.  In  the  course  of  history,  says  Dr.  Carl  Bucher, 
"mankind  sets  before  itself  ever  higher  economic  aims  and  finds  the 
means  of  attaining  these  in  a  division  of  the  burden  of  labor  which 
constantly  extends  until  finally  it  embraces  the  whole  people  and 

[225] 


requires  the  services  of  all  for  all.  ...  It  is  the  road  traversed  by 
mankind  in  passing  from  clanship  to  society,  which,  as  far  as  we 
can  see,  ends  in  an  ever-tightening  social  organization.  On  this 
road  the  means  for  satisfying  the  wants  of  the  individual  continu- 
ally grow  in  fulness  and  variety,  and  at  the  same  time  in  dependence 
and  complexity.  The  life  and  labor  of  every  individual  becomes 
more  and  more  entwined  with  the  life  and  labor  of  many  others." 
The  three  principal  stages  in  industrial  evolution,  considered  in 
relation  to  economic  organization  as  a  whole,  are  usually  known  as 

(l)    HOUSEHOLD    ECONOMY,    (2)    TOWN    ECONOMY,    and    (3)    NATIONAL 

ECONOMY.  .  With  more  particular  reference  to  production  alone,  four 
stages  are  commonly  differentiated:  (i)  The  FAMILY  OR  HOUSEHOLD 

SYSTEM,    (2)    the    HANDICRAFT    SYSTEM,    (3)    the    DOMESTIC     SYSTEM, 

and  (4)  the  FACTORY  SYSTEM.  The  changing  status  of  the  individual 
laborer  in  industrial  history  is  ordinarily  considered  under  three 
main  headings:  (i)  SLAVERY,  (2)  SERFDOM,  and  (3)  the  WAGE 
SYSTEM.  In  a  larger  and  more  general  sense,  according  to  Arthur 
Shadwell,  "the  essence  of  industrial  evolution  is  not  the  substitution 
of  the  grand  for  the  small  industry,  or  even  the  supremacy  of  the 
machine,  but  something  much  larger.  It  is  the  mastery  of  nature 
in  the  service  of  man,  and  for  its  origin  we  must  go  back  to  the 
beginnings  of  science — to  the  search  after  knowledge  which  followed 
the  revival  of  learning.  The  mediaeval  attempts  to  square  the  circle, 
find  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  produce  perpetual  motion  were 
the  early  gropings  of  the  spirit  which  has  produced  the  steam- 
engine,  the  dynamo,  wireless  telegraphy,  the  aeroplane,  and  syn- 
thetic rubber.  The  mastery  of  nature  in  the  service  of  man  is  the 
one  guiding  purpose  running  through  the  whole  story."  (See 
INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION.) 

Industrial  Fatigue.     See  FATIGUE. 

Industrial  Hazard.  As  broadly  defined  by  Dr.  Royal  Meeker, 
this  term  denotes  "anything  occurring  within  an  industry  which 
impairs  the  earning  power  of  the  worker."  This  definition  includes 
industrial  accidents,  sickness  growing  out  of  occupations,  and  above 
all,  UNEMPLOYMENT.  More  commonly,  however,  the  term  refers  spe- 
cifically to  the  risk  of  bodily  injury  to  the  worker  inherent  in  modern 
industrial  operations.  According  to  E.  H.  Downey,  "every  mechan- 
ical employment  has  a  predictable  hazard;  of  a  thousand  men  who 
climb  to  dizzy  heights  in  erecting  steel  structures  a1  certain  number 
will  fall  to  death,  and  of  a  thousand  girls  who  feed  metal  strips 
into  stamping  machines  a  certain  number  will  have  their  fingers 

[226] 


crushed.  So  regularly  do  such  injuries  occur  that  every  machine- 
made  commodity  may  be  said  to  have  a  definite  cost  in  human  blood 
and  tears — a  life  for  so  many  tons  of  coal,  a  lacerated  hand  for  so 
many  laundered  shirts."  (See  SAFETY  FIRST  MOVEMENT;  HAZARDOUS 
OCCUPATIONS;  HEALTH  HAZARDS.) 

Industrial  Health  Work.  The  activities  or  services  which 
may  properly  be  considered  as  coming  within  the  scope  of  this  term 
are  thus  specified  by  Messrs.  Tead  and  Metcalf :  Preventive  medi- 
cine; personal  and  social  hygiene;  factory  sanitation  and  safety; 
emergency  surgery  and  first  aid;  laboratory  tests  and  hospital  care; 
dental  prophylaxis;  mental  hygiene;  medical  "follow-up"  (periodic 
examinations);  ear,  eye,  nose,  and  throat  treatment,  and  clinics  in 
special  diseases.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  MEDICINE;  INDUSTRIAL  PSYCHI- 
ATRY; INDUSTRIAL  PHYSIOLOGY;  INDUSTRIAL  SAFETY;  OCCUPATIONAL 
DISEASES;  HEALTH  HAZARDS;  FATIGUE  STUDY;  COMPANY  DOCTOR.) 

Industrial  Housing  and  Transportation  Bureau.  This 
war-time  agency  of  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
was  established  in  February,  1918,  to  investigate  the  housing  needs 
of  industrial  localities,  to  build  houses  for  industrial  workers  engaged 
in  war  activities,  and  to  provide  for  their  transportation.  In  July, 
1918,  under  authority  of  an  act  of  Congress,  the  United  States 
Housing  Corporation  was  formed  and  took  over  the  work  of  the 
Bureau  with  the  exception  of  certain  minor  matters.  Since  the 
armistice,  the  work  of  the  organization  has  been  mainly  confined 
to  completing  work  already  begun,  disposing  of  materials  on  hand, 
and  adjusting  claims. 

Industrial  Hygiene.  See  INDUSTRIAL  HEALTH  WORK;  IN- 
DUSTRIAL PHYSIOLOGY. 

Industrial  Insurance.  While  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  in  general 
and  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  in  particular  are  sometimes  thus 
designated,  this  term  has  more  specific  reference  to  a  form  of  private 
commercial  insurance  under  which  members  of  the  working  class  are 
insured  for  small  amounts — the  chief  purpose  being  to  provide  for 
the  expenses  of  death  and  burial.  The  premiums  are  collected 
weekly  or  monthly  in  a  house-to-house  round  by  agents  of  the  com- 
panies. This  form  of  insurance  has  assumed  tremendous  propor- 
tions in  Great  Britain. 

Industrial  Medicine.  As  a  generic  term,  this  has  been 
defined  as  "the  newer  conception  of  the  supervision  of  the  health 

[227] 


of  employees,  the  medical  examination  of  applicants  and  of  the  old 
force,  the  prevention  of  disease  and  accidents  by  industrial  hygiene 
and  safety  first,  better  medical  and  surgical  treatment  for  the 
sick  and  injured,  compensation  and  BENEFITS,  and  the  relation  of 
this  human  maintenance  work  to  other  employees'  service  depart- 
ments." (See  INDUSTRIAL  HEALTH  WORK;  SAFETY  FIRST  MOVE- 
MENT.) 

Industrial  Organization  in  Russia.  Under  the  Soviet 
regime,  industrial  undertakings  fall  generally  into  four  main  classes : 
(i)  Those  that  have  been  organized  and  are  being  conducted  by  the 
present  government,  known  as  Soviet  industries;  (2)  large  private 
undertakings  that  have  been  taken  over  and  are  being  conducted 
by  the  government,  known  as  nationalized  industries;  (3)  large 
private  undertakings  that  were  originally  taken  over  by  the  govern- 
ment but  have  been  leased  back  to  their  original  owners  at  a  nominal 
rental,  and  small  private  undertakings  that  have  never  been  taken 
over  by  the  State,  known  as  private  industries;  (4)  cooperative 
undertakings,  owned  and  operated  by  the  workers.  All  of  these 
classes  are  subject  to  State  control  in  varying  degree,  under  the 
direction  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Commerce  and  Industry 
and  the  SUPREME  COUNCIL  OF  PUBLIC  ECONOMY,  two  of  the  main 
executive  divisions  of  the  government.  Each  major  industry  is 
nationally  organized  into  a  State  trust,  which  is  managed  by  a  board 
or  "central"  of  nine  members,  representing  in  equal  numbers  the 
workers,  the  technical  managers,  and  the  Supreme  Council  of  Public 
Economy.  Thus,  there  is  a  "Coal  Central,"  a  "Steel  Central,"  a 
"Textile  Central,"  etc.,  each  directly  correlated  with  the  Supreme 
Council  of  Public  Economy,  and  having  charge  in  its  own  industry 
of  the  distribution  of  raw  materials,  placing  of  technical  experts, 
regulation  of  output,  distribution  of  product,  control  of  finances, 
etc.  (See  REGIONAL  ECONOMIC  COUNCILS;  NATIONALIZATION  IN 
RUSSIA.) 

Industrial  Partnership.  This  rather  misleading  and  often 
inaccurate  term  is  commonly  applied  to  any  arrangement  under 
which  the  employees  of  an  industrial  or  commercial  enterprise 
participate,  in  any  degree,  in  the  ownership  or  management  of  the 
enterprise.  (See  LABOR  COPARTNERSHIP;  CAPITAL  SHARING.) 

Industrial  Physiology.  A  term  sometimes  used  in  designa- 
tion of  "the  sum  of  knowledge  pertaining  to  the  working  of  the 
human  mechanism  in  industrial  activity,  and  it  thus  includes  psy- 

[228] 


chological  phenomena  as  well  as  those  more  technically  recognized 
as  physiological."  "Industrial  physiology  has  two  objects:  First, 
the  more  purely  scientific  one  of  learning  how  the  industrial  worker 
actually  performs  his  work  and  what  the  conditions  are  under  which 
he  can  work  most  efficiently  and  can  produce  the  largest  output 
while  maintaining  his  body  in  health  and  in  the  best  working  con- 
dition; and,  secondly,  the  more  practical  object  of  establishing  in 
the  factories  the  conditions  which  conduce  at  the  same  time  to  the 
maximum  output  and  the  maintenance  of  the  maximum  power  of 
the  worker."  (See  INDUSTRIAL  HEALTH  WORK.) 

Industrial  Psychiatry.  A  branch  of  INDUSTRIAL  HEALTH 
WORK  which  is  concerned  with  the  prevention  of  mental  breakdowns 
by  giving  the  worker  a  proper  environment  and  removing  causes 
of  discontent,  and  treating  such  cases  from  an  individual  stand- 
point, as  well  as  considering  as  psychiatric  cases  those  persons 
ordinarily  known  by  such  unsympathetic  names  as  "kickers," 
"grouchers,"  "hoboes,"  etc.  The  term  has  been  more  concisely 
defined  as  the  "mental  hygiene  of  industry." 

Industrial  Rehabilitation.  See  VOCATIONAL  REHABILITA- 
TION. 

Industrial  Rehabilitation  Act.  See  VOCATIONAL  REHA- 
BILITATION. 

Industrial  Relations  Department.  In  many  large  industrial 
establishments,  the  study  and  promotion  of  satisfactory  and  equita- 
ble relations  between  employer  and  employees,  as  well  as  all  matters 
that  have  to  do  in  a  large  sense  with  the  human  factor  in  production, 
are  assigned  to  a  separate  "industrial  relations  department" — also 
variously  known  as  "personnel  department,"  "mutual  interest 
department,"  "human  relations  department,"  "employment  de- 
partment," etc.  The  duties  of  such  a  department  vary  widely  in 
different  establishments,  but  in  the  main  they  are  concerned  with 
creating  and  maintaining  MORALE,  good  will,  loyalty,  esprit  de  corps, 
and  personal  efficiency.  Some  establishments  merely  offer  bonus 
and  insurance  schemes,  emphasize  safety,  and  follow  commonsense 
leads  in  cultivating  a  cordial  group  relationship  between  labor  and 
the  management,  to  replace  the  old  individual  relationship  between 
the  laborer  and  "the  boss."  Others  provide  for  visiting  absentees, 
and  furnish  medical  treatment,  free  nurses,  better  housing,  lectures, 
club  rooms,  playgrounds,  and  cheap  homes.  A  few  have  given  labor 
a  voice  in  determining  some  of  the  policies  of  management  through 
16  [  229  ] 


a  SHOP  COMMITTEE  or  shop  council.  The  official  in  charge  of  such  a 
department  is  commonly  known  as  a  PERSONNEL  MANAGER,  although 
other  titles  are  used  in  different  establishments.  (See  PERSONNEL 
ADMINISTRATION;  HUMAN  ENGINEERING;  WELFARE  WORK.) 

Industrial  Revolution.  The  transformation  of  modern  so- 
ciety which  accompanied  the  transition  from  handicraft  to  machine 
industry.  "About  the  middle  of  the  i8th  century,  or  a  little  later," 
according  to  Dr.  Arthur  Shadwell,  "this  transformation  began  to 
assume  a  well-defined  character,  and  entered  on  a  course  of  rapid 
and  continuous  advance — at  first  in  Great  Britain  and  afterwards 
in  other  countries.  Its  efficient  cause  was  a  series  of  capital  inven- 
tions and  discoveries,  which  transformed  many  existing  industries, 
and  created  still  more  new  ones.  Its  most  prominent  features  were 
the  application  of  mechanical  power  and  the  development  of  ma- 
chinery, leading  to  the  evolution  of  the  '  grand '  industry  carried  on 
in  large  establishments,  and  commonly  called  the  FACTORY  SYSTEM  ; 
an  enormous  increase  of  production,  with  cheapening  of  commodi- 
ties; a  corresponding  expansion  of  markets  and  of  sources  of  supply, 
fed  and  opened  up  by  the  development  of  transport;  the  concentra- 
tion of  the  population  in  centres  convenient  for  production  and  dis- 
tribution, or,  in  other  words,  the  growth  and  multiplication  of 
manufacturing  and  trading  towns,  with  a  corresponding  relative 
decline  of  the  agricultural  population — all  involving  great  changes 
in  the  occupations  of  the  people  and  in  the  conditions  of  life  among 
them."  The  industrial  revolution  is  merely  one  phase  of  the  vast 
and  complex  process  of  INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION,  and  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  generalizations  drawn  from  particular  features  of 
it  have  only  a  limited  application. 

Industrial  Safety.  In  the  legal  sense,  probably  as  good  a 
definition  of  this  term  as  any  is  that  contained  in  the  Wisconsin 
state  law:  "The  term  'safe'  or  'safety'  as  applied  to  an  employment 
or  a  place  of  employment  shall  mean  such  freedom  from  danger  to 
the  life,  health  or  safety  of  employees  or  frequenters  as  the  nature  of 
the  employment  will  reasonably  permit."  The  investigations  con- 
cerning industrial  safety  and  sanitation  made  by  the  FEDERAL  COM- 
MISSION ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  resulted  in  the  following  con- 
clusions: "(i)  Great  progress  has  been  made  during  recent  years 
in  promoting  safety  and  sanitation  in  manufacturing,  mining  and 
transportation.  (2)  The  progress  has  been  most  rapid  in  the  direction 
of  safeguarding  workers  from  industrial  accidents.  (3)  Progress  in 
safety  has  been  in  part  the  result  of  continued  agitation  and  educa- 

[230] 


tion,  but  has  proceeded  most  rapidly  and  satisfactorily  since  the 
enactment  of  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  laws  which  render  unsafe 
working  conditions  expensive  to  the  employer.  (4)  The  movement 
has  also  been  largely  promoted  by  the  formation  of  safety  committees 
composed  of  officials  and  workmen,  and  by  the  creation  of  joint  con- 
ferences of  employers  and  employees  to  assist  and  advise  State 
officials  in  the  administration  of  the  law  and  in  the  formulation  of 
safety  rules.  (5)  The  campaign  for  safety  needs,  however,  to  be 
greatly  extended  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  annual  list  of  accidents, 
approximately  35,000  fatalities  and  700,000  injuries  involving  dis- 
ability of  over  four  weeks,  can  not  be  regarded  complacently.  From 
one-third  to  one-half  of  these  accidents  have  been  estimated  by 
competent  authorities  to  be  preventable  by  proper  safeguards, 
inspection  and  control.  (6)  The  advance  in  the  sanitation  of  work- 
shops has  been  less  rapid,  because  not  only  are  the  dangers  less  ob- 
vious, but  there  is  no  financial  liability  for  diseases  or  deaths  occurring 
as  the  result  of  improper  sanitation.  Future  progress  in  sanitation 
demands  attention  not  only  to  cleanliness  and  ventilation,  but  to 
occupational  diseases.  (7)  The  most  direct  incentive  for  the  pro- 
motion of  sanitation  would  be  the  adoption  of  a  proper  system  of 
sickness  insurance.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  SAFETY  LAWS;  SAFETY  FIRST 
MOVEMENT;  HEALTH  HAZARDS;  HAZARDOUS  OCCUPATIONS;  OCCU- 
PATIONAL DISEASES;  ENGINEERING  REVISION;  SAFETY  STRIKE.) 

Industrial  Safety  Laws.  Legislation  providing  for  proper 
machine  guards,  sanitary  conditions  in  factories,  fire-escapes,  mine 
rescue  appliances,  automatic  car  couplers,  and  similar  matters 
designed  to  safeguard  the  life,  limbs,  and  health  of  industrial  workers. 
In  states  which  have  adopted  the  industrial  commission  plan,  the 
state  legislature  does  not  attempt  to  cover  all  these  points  in  specific 
detailed  legislation,  but  instead  enacts  a  general  provision  requiring 
the  employer  to  protect  the  life,  safety,  health,  and  welfare  of  em- 
ployees, and  authorizing  the  commission  to  draw  up  ADMINISTRATIVE 
ORDERS  specifying  the  details  as  to  how  this  shall  be  accomplished. 
(See  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION;  SAFETY  FIRST  MOVEMENT; 
LEAD  LAWS;  PROHIBITED  EMPLOYMENTS;  MINE  INSPECTION;  SAFETY 
APPLIANCE  ACT.) 

Industrial  Self -Government.  This  phrase  has  no  single  or 
definite  meaning.  Used  by  a  capitalist  employer,  it  may  denote 
the  freedom  of  industry  from  State  intervention  and  regulation. 
Used  by  a  worker,  it  may  denote  either  a  relative  form  of  INDUSTRIAL 
DEMOCRACY  or  a  complete  measure  of  WORKERS'  CONTROL.  Again, 

[231] 


it  may  be  used  by  either  employer  or  worker  in  designation  of  some ' 
particular  form  of  SHOP  COMMITTEE  system,  EMPLOYEE  REPRESEN- 
TATION plan,  etc. 

Industrial  Truce.  An  agreement  made  between  the  British 
government  and  British  trade  union  officials  in  1915,  under  the 
terms  of  which  union  labor  waived  many  of  its  normal  rules  and 
restrictions  (as  for  example,  in  the  matter  of  DILUTION)  for  the  sake 
of  increased  production  during  the  war,  with  the  understanding 
that  employers'  profits  would  be  limited,  that  organized  labor  would 
be  represented  in  the  government,  and  that  the  trade  union  condi- 
tions thus  waived  would  be  automatically  restored  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  The  latter  pledge  was  redeemed  through  the  passing  of 
the  Restoration  of  Prewar  Practices  Act  in  August,  1919.  (See 
SHOP  STEWARD  MOVEMENT.) 

Industrial  Union.  One  of  the  two  main  structural  types  of 
trade  union — the  other  being  the  CRAFT  UNION.  Broadly  and  to 
some  extent  theoretically  speaking,  an  industrial  union  comprises 
all  the  workers  of  an  entire  industry — all  who  cooperate  in  producing 
a  common  product  or  type  of  product,  or  in  rendering  a  common 
service,  skilled  and  unskilled  workers  alike;  whereas  the  craft  union 
consists  as  a  rule  of  only  skilled  or  semi-skilled  workers  engaged  in 
one  particular  kind  of  work  within  an  industry.  But  this  pure  type 
of  industrial  union  is  by  no  means  common.  A  large  proportion 
of  what  are  ordinarily  known  as  industrial  unions  belong,  in  fact, 
to  the  COMPOUND  CRAFT  UNION  type — being  AMALGAMATIONS  of 
several  related  craft  unions  in  one  or  several  industries.  Then,  too, 
in  actual  practice  industrial  unionism  tends  largely  toward  that  form 
of  CLASS  UNIONISM  which  consists  in  a  separate  grouping  of  skilled 
workers  and  unskilled  workers.  Thus,  in  this  country,  we  have  at 
one  extreme  the  sort  of  exclusive  industrial  unionism  found  in  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  consisting  in  the  main  of  "the 
union  of  all  the  skilled  crafts  of  a  single  industry,  and  not,  except  in 
rare  cases,  of  all  the  workers  in  an  industry";  and,  at  the  other  ex- 
treme, the  industrial  unionism  of  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE 
WORLD,  consisting  almost  wholly  of  unskilled  "casual"  workers. 
Similarly,  in  England  we  find  that  the  chief  industrial  unions  are 
as  a  rule  amalgamations  of  skilled  craft  unions,  while  the  great 
mass  of  unskilled  or  semi-skilled  workers  are  organized  in  separate 
GENERAL  LABOR  UNIONS.  But  whether  in  its  "pure,"  its  "compound 
craft,"  or  its  "class"  form,  the  industrial  union  is  rapidly  taking 
precedence  over  the  craft  type  of  organization — in  most  European 

[232] 


countries,  at  any  rate.  It  is,  for  one  thing,  the  logical  transition 
means  to  some  form  of  WORKERS'  CONTROL  or  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY 
— which  is  the  goal  of  the  present-day  labor  movement.  For  im- 
mediate purposes,  it  is  a  far  more  formidable  fighting  organization 
than  the  craft  union;  and  it  is  much  less  subject  to  internal  and 
external  dissensions  within  the  labor  movement.  "The  advocates 
of  organization  by  industries  maintain  that  the  true  community  of 
interest  exists  between  those  who  stand  face  to  face  with  the  same 
employers.  The  wages,  hours,  and  other  conditions  of  the  fireman 
who  tends  the  boiler  at  the  coal  mine,  of  the  cooper  who  repairs  the 
kegs  of  the  brewery,  of  the  driver  who  delivers  the  beer,  can  be  most 
effectively  promoted  by  their  fellow-workmen  who  have  a  common 
employment  with  them  at  the  mine  or  in  the  brewery,  rather  than  by 
firemen  or  coopers  or  drivers  whose  work  is  tributary  to  quite  other 
occupations.  Though  such  a  small  minority  in  an  industry  be 
separately  organized,  and  though  it  deny  any  allegiance  to  the  or- 
ganization of  the  great  body  of  workers  in  the  industry,  it  is  upon 
that  body  of  workers  that  it  must  still  depend  for  effective  support 
in  its  demands.  .  .  .  From  the  standpoint  of  the  employer  there  would 
seem  to  be  a  considerable  advantage  in  dealing  with  a  single  organi- 
zation, controlling  all  the  men  in  his  establishment,  rather  than  with 
half  a  dozen,  any  one  of  which  might  tie  up  the  whole  business  in 
spite  of  any  understanding  which  he  might  have  with  the  others.  .  .  . 
On  the  other  hand,  unity  increases  the  strength  of  the  workers, 
and  a  demand  which  is  backed  by  a  whole  working  force  is  less  easy 
to  resist  than  a  demand  which  has  the  direct  support  of  only  a  frac- 
tion." (See  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM;  MATERIAL  TRADE  UNION;  LABOR 
UNION;  PLANT  UNION.) 

Industrial  Unionism.  The  theory  and  practice  of  trade 
union  organization  along  the  lines  of  the  actual  structure  of  industry, 
without  regard  to  separate  crafts  or  occupations;  the  basis  of  or- 
ganization being  the  general  "form  of  production"  or  the  common 
service  rendered,  rather  than  any  specialized  kind  of  work  performed. 
This  theory  is  in  itself  neither  revolutionary  nor  even  radical,  and 
it  has  been  adopted  by  many  conservative  trade  unions.  But  be- 
cause industrial  unionism  is  generally  considered  an  essential  prelim- 
inary to,  if  not  the  permanent  foundation  for,  any  really  effective 
form  of  WORKERS'  CONTROL  or  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY,  it  is  often 
identified  with  various  radical  philosophies  (in  particular,  SYNDICAL- 
ISM) which  look  to  the  ultimate  capture  and  control  of  the  State  by 
the  workers  But  this  form  of  industrial  unionism  should  properly 

[233] 


be  differentiated  as  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM.  The  term  "greater 
unionism"  is  sometimes  used  in  a  sense  synonymous  with  industrial 
unionism.  (See  NEW  UNIONISM;  ONE  BIG  UNION;  EMPLOYMENTAL 
UNIONISM.) 

Industrial  Unrest.  Disregarding  those  spiritual  or  psycho- 
logical factors,  common  to  normal  human  beings  of  whatever  economic 
status,  which  are  expressed  in  the  universal  desire  and  effort  for  better 
things,  industrial  unrest  may  be  broadly  defined  as  the  condition 
of  more  or  less  acute  dissatisfaction  existing  among  the  great  mass  of 
wage-earners  in  regard  to  what  they  consider  gross  inequalities  and 
maladjustments  in  the  present  economic  and  social  arrangements. 
According  to  the  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUS- 
TRIAL RELATIONS,  "the  sources  from  which  this  unrest  springs  are, 
when  stated  in  full  detail,  almost  numberless.  But  upon  careful 
analysis  of  their  real  character  they  will  be  found  to  group  themselves 
almost  without  exception  under  four  main  sources  which  include  all 
the  others.  These  four  are:  (i)  Unjust  distribution  of  wealth  and 
income.  (2)  UNEMPLOYMENT  and  denial  of  an  opportunity  to  earn  a 
living.  (3)  Denial  of  justice  in  the  creation,  in  the  adjudication, 
and  in  the  administration  of  law.  (4)  Denial  of  the  right  and  oppor- 
tunity to  form  effective  organizations."  A  more  thoroughgoing 
statement  is  that  contained  in  the  "Trade  Union  Memorandum" 
attached  to  the  report  of  the  provisional  joint  committee  of  the 
BRITISH  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE  (1919),  as  follows: 
"The  fundamental  causes  of  Labor  unrest  are  to  be  found  rather  in 
the  growing  determination  of  Labor  to  challenge  the  whole  existing 
structure  of  capitalist  industry  than  in  any  of  the  more  special 
and  smaller  grievances  which  come  to  the  surface  at  any  particular 
time.  ...  It  is  not  enough  merely  to  tinker  with  particular  grievances 
or  to  endeavor  to  reconstruct  the  old  system  by  slight  adjustments 
to  meet  the  new  demands  of  Labor.  It  is  essential  to  question  the 
whole  basis  on  which  our  industry  has  been  conducted  in  the  past 
and  to  endeavor  to  find,  in  substitution  for  the  motive  of  private 
gain,  some  other  motive  which  will  serve  better  as  the  foundation 
of  a  democratic  system.  This  motive  can  be  nd  other  than  the 
motive  of  public  service,  which  at  present  is  seldom  invoked  save 
when  the  workers  threaten  to  stop  the  process  of  production  by  a 
strike.  The  motive  of  public  service  should  be  the  dominant  motive 
throughout  the  whole  industrial  system,  and  the  problem  in  industry 
at  the  present  day  is  that  of  bringing  home  to  every  person  engaged 
in  industry  the  feeling  that  he  is  the  servant,  not  of  any  particular 

[234] 


class  or  person,  but  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  This  cannot  be 
done  so  long  as  industry  continues  to  be  conducted  for  private  profit, 
and  the  widest  possible  extension  of  public  ownership  and  democratic 
control  of  industry  is  therefore  the  first  necessary  condition  of  the 
removal  of  industrial  unrest," 

Industrial  Workers  of  the  World.  This  body,  more  com- 
monly known  as  the  I.  W.  W.,  was  organized  at  Chicago  in  1905, 
as  a  merger  of  various  labor  groups  that  had  long  been  hostile  to  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  These  groups  were  (i)  the 
Western  Labor  Union,  formed  in  1898  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners,  and  renamed  in  1902  the  American 
Labor  Union;  (2)  a  section  of  the  SOCIALIST  LABOR  PARTY  OF  NORTH 
AMERICA;  and  (3)  other  radical  working  groups  of  minor  importance. 
After  an  auspicious  beginning,  with  a  claimed  membership  of  100,000, 
it  was  not  long  before  factional  strife  developed  within  the  organiza- 
tion. In  1907  its  strongest  constituent  group,  the  Western  miners, 
withdrew,  and  in  1908  the  remaining  organization  split  into  two 
factions:  the  POLITICAL  ACTION  or  milder  group,  consisting  mainly 
of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  element,  formed  what  was  at  first  known 
as  the  Detroit  I.  W.  W.  but  is  now  called  the  WORKERS'  INTERNA- 
TIONAL INDUSTRIAL  UNION;  the  remaining  members,  devoted  to 
DIRECT  ACTION,  constituted  the  Chicago  group,  which  is  much  the 
more  numerous  and  active,  and  represents  what  is  known  today  as 
the  I.  W.  W.  In  the  preamble  to  its  first  constitution  the  I.  W.  W. 
declares  that  "the  working  class  and  the  employing  class  have 
nothing  in  common.  ...  It  is  the  historic  mission  of  the  working  class 

to  do  away  with  capitalism A  struggle  must  go  on  until  the  workers 

of  the  world  organize  as  a  class,  take  possession  of  the  earth  and 
the  machinery  of  production,  and  abolish  the  wage  system."  Start- 
ing out  on  the  plan  of  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM,  uniting  skilled  and 
unskilled  workers  alike  along  the  lines  of  capitalistic  production, 
the  I.  W.  W.  soon  shifted  to  a  basis  of  CLASS  UNIONISM  and  accepted 
as  its  specific  function  the  organization  of  the  great  mass  of  unskilled 
workers  alone — the  nondescript  "under  dogs"  of  our  economic  sys- 
tem whom  the  aristocratic  craft  unions  will  as  a  rule  have  none  of. 
According  to  Carleton  Parker,  "the  I.  W.  W.  is  a  union  of  unskilled 
workers  in  large  part  employed  in  agriculture  and  in  the  production 
of  raw  materials.  While  the  I.  W.  W.  appeared  in  the  East  at  Law- 
rence, Paterson,  and  certain  other  places,  at  the  height  of  strike 
activity,  its  normal  habitat  is  in  the  upper  middle  West  and  the  far 
West  from  British  Columbia  down  into  old  Mexico."  Membership 

[235] 


in  the  West  is  consistently  of  one  type — migratory  workers.  About 
half  are  of  American  birth;  the  other  half  is  largely  made  up  of 
newer  immigration  from  Southeastern  Europe.  Starting  out  with 
a  definite  scheme  of  organization,  not  altogether  unlike  that  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  I.  W.  W.  soon  degenerated  into 
"a  loosely  bound  group  of  uncontrolled  fighters."  To  quote  Dr. 
Parker  again:  "It  has  in  fact  no  formal  politico-legal  existence. 
Its  treasury  is  merely  the  momentary  accumulation  of  strike  funds. 
Its  numerous  headquarters  are  the  result  of  the  energy  of  local 
secretaries.  They  are  not  places  for  executive  direction  of  the  union 
as  much  as  gregarious  centres  where  the  lodging  house  inhabitant 
or  the  hobo  with  his  blanket  can  find  light,  a  stove,  and  compan- 
ionship. ...  In  times  of  strike  and  disorder  the  headquarters  becomes 
the  centre  of  the  direct  action  propaganda.  But  when  this  is  by,  its 
character  changes  to  the  casuals'  rest  house."  No  accurate  figures 
regarding  the  I.  W.  W.'s  present  membership  are  available,  but 
various  estimates  range  from  50,000  to  150,000.  However,  its 
significance  does  not  lie  in  organization  or  numbers,  but  in  its  aspect 
as  a  social  phenomenon  and  in  its  power  of  enlisting  the  sympathies 
of  the  lower  classes  of  workers  in  times  of  crisis.  The  activities  of 
the  I.  W.  W.  are  by  no  means  confined  to  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  but  extend  to  most  English-speaking  countries — in  par- 
ticular, Australia  and  the  British  colonies  of  South  Africa.  (See 
FREE  SPEECH  FIGHTS;  AGRICULTURAL  WORKERS'  ORGANIZATION; 
SAB-CAT;  BUMMERY;  WOBBLY;  SPITTOON  PHILOSOPHERS;  STIFF; 
TIMBER  WOLF;  FRUIT  TRAMP;  SCISSORBILL;  TRAVELLING  WITNESSES; 
ONE  BIG  UNION;  DUAL  UNIONISM;  BORING  FROM  WITHIN;  MASS 
UNIONISM;  PURE  AND  SIMPLE  UNIONISM;  MIXED  LOCAL;  UNIVERSAL 
LABEL;  SABOTAGE;  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM;  CRIMINAL  SYNDICAL- 
ISM LAWS  ;  UNLAWFUL  ASSOCIATIONS  ACT;  CONFEDERACION  REGIONAL 
OBRERA  MEXICANA.) 

Industrialism  or  Industrial  System.  A  general  designation 
for  the  present  stage  or  period  of  economic  development,  marked  by 
LARGE-SCALE  PRODUCTION  for  private  profit.  The  effects  of  indus- 
trialism are  seen  primarily  in  the  growth  of  population  and  in  changes 
of  grouping  by  locality  and  occupation.  Rural  life  yields  to  urban, 
and  agricultural  occupations  to  industrial  and  commercial.  The 
development  of  the  town  is  the  chief  outstanding  feature  of  indus- 
trialism; it  marks  every  industrial  country.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  REVO- 
LUTION; FACTORY  SYSTEM;  LOCALIZATION  OP  INDUSTRY;  WAGE 
SYSTEM.) 

[236] 


Industrialized  Nationalization.  As  an  outcome  of  the 
sittings  of  the  CONSEIL  ECONOMIQUE  DU  TRAVAIL,  the  French 
CONFEDERATION  G£NERALE  DU  TRAVAIL  has  recently  sponsored  a 
programme  of  industrial  reform  under  the  name  of  "  industralized 
nationalization,"  which  represents  a  compromise  between  pure 
SYNDICALISM  (of  which  the  C.  G.  T.  has  hitherto  been  the  leading 
advocate)  and  GUILD  SOCIALISM.  As  summarized  in  O'Brien's 
"Labor  Organization,"  "this  programme  proposes  that  when  any 
industry  is  nationalized  it  shall  at  once  be  handed  over  to  be  admin- 
istered by  a  council  representative  of  three  interests — producers, 
consumers,  and  the  public.  The  producers  of  course  consist  of  all 
the  workmen  in  the  industry ;  the  consumers  include  first  the  coopera- 
tive societies  as  representing  the  ordinary  domestic  consumer,  and 
secondly  the  trade  users  and  the  public.  Representatives  are  to  be 
drawn,  half  from  the  technical  and  half  from  the  administrative  per- 
sonnel of  the  State  services.  One  important  feature  of  the  scheme 
is  that  the  NATIONALIZATION  of  regional  or  even  individual  industries 
is  contemplated,  so  that  competition  will  remain.  It  is  proposed  that 
the  profits  of  the  industries  should  be  divided  into  three  parts;  one 
part  to  pay  interest  on  working  capital  and  the  amortization  of  the 
capital  taken  over,  another  part  to  provide  houses  and  improved 
conditions  of  employment  for  the  workers,  and  the  other  part  to  be 
applied  to  the  development  of  the  national  resources." 

Industry.  This  term  has  been  broadly  defined  as  "the  process 
by  which  the  resources  of  Nature  are  transformed  through  human 
effort  into  services  and  commodities  available  for  use."  In  a  narrower 
sense,  the  word  denotes  a  single  specialized  field  or  department 
of  a  country's  industrial  activity — such  as  the  "steel  industry," 
the  "railway  industry,"  the  "mining  industry,"  etc.  The  separate 
industries  of  the  human  race  may  be  conveniently  grouped  thus: 
(i)  Extractive,  including  agriculture,  mining,  lumbering,  etc.;  (2) 
distributive,  including  commerce,  wholesale  and  retail  trade,  trans- 
portation, communication,  and  all  the  media  of  exchange;  (3)  manu- 
facturing ;  (4)  services  and  free  incomes,  including  domestic  servants, 
government  officials,  professional  men  and  women,  students,  etc. 

Industry  Federation.  In  England,  a  FEDERATION  uniting  all 
the  trade  unions  of  a  single  industry  of  national  scope — as  for  ex- 
ample, the  Miners'  Federation.  Such  federations  are  sometimes  in 
actual  effect  AMALGAMATIONS,  their  executives  having  power  to  act 
for  the  industry  as  a  whole  in  respect  to  national  issues. 

Infirmity  Insurance.     See  INVALIDITY  INSURANCE. 

[237] 


Initiation  Fees.  In  common  with  nearly  all  other  organiza- 
tions, trade  unions  require  every  new  member  to  pay  a  fixed  sum  of 
money  at  the  time  of  joining  the  union.  Initiation  fees  are,  in 
practically  all  cases,  charged  and  collected  by  local  unions  only; 
although  the  specific  amount,  or  a  minimum  and  maximum  limit, 
may  be  prescribed  in  the  constitution  of  the  national  union.  The 
maximum  fee  is  sometimes  thus  fixed  to  restrict  the  tendency  of 
local  organizations,  when  they  have  a  good  local  control  of  the  trade, 
to  make  the  initiation  fee  almost  prohibitory,  with  the  aim  of  increas- 
ing the  amount  of  employment  for  those  who  are  already  members. 
The  minimum  fee,  as  in  the  case  of  minimum  membership  dues,  is 
often  fixed  to  insure  adequate  support  of  the  local  treasuries.  In  some 
unions  a  part  of  each  local  initiation  fee  must  be  paid  to  the  national 
treasury.  Some  unions  make  a  distinction  between  Americans  and 
foreigners,  charging  the  latter  a  higher  rate.  The  fee  is  sometimes 
lower  for  women  than  for  men,  when  both  are  admitted  to  the  union ; 
and  the  fees  are  also  often  reduced  for  HELPERS  and  HALF  MEMBERS. 
As  a  rule,  members  moving  to  another  town  are  not  required  to  pay 
an  initiation  fee  when  they  join  a  new  local  of  the  same  national  union. 

Initiative  and  Referendum.  One  of  the  most  important 
instruments  in  the  government  of  national  and  international  unions. 
Originally,  according  to  Glocker's  "Government  of  American  Trade 
Unions,"  "the  national  trade  unions  elected  officers  and  transacted 
all  other  business — executive,  legislative  and  judicial — through  the 
NATIONAL  CONVENTION  of  delegates.  A  number  of  national  unions 
still  continue  to  vest  such  unlimited,  wide-reaching  powers  in  this 
representative  assembly,  but  the  great  majority  of  them  have  limited 
its  power  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  by  the  use  of  the  initiative  and 
referendum.  The  trade  unions  submit  a  far  wider  variety  of  business 
to  popular  vote  than  do  political  governments.  By  this  method  they 
elect  officers,  adopt  rules,  declare  strikes,  levy  assessments,  render 
judicial  decisions,  and  transact  other  business.  In  a  few  organiza- 
tions the  convention  has  been  abolished,  and  all  questions  are  deter- 
mined by  the  vote  of  the  members.  The  right  of  popular  initiative 
exists  in  American  trade  unions  only  in  a  modified  sense.  A  member, 
for  example,  may  propose  any  amendment  to  the  international 
constitution  at  a  meeting  of  his  local  union,  but  his  proposal  must 
be  endorsed  by  at  least  a  majority  of  the  members  in  his  own  branch, 
must  be  signed  by  the  local  officers,  and  must  have  the  seal  of  the 
subordinate  union  attached  before  it  can  be  recognized  at  head- 
quarters. Then  it  must  be  endorsed  by  the  GENERAL  EXECUTIVE 

[238] 


BOARD  or  by  a  certain  number  of  other  branches  before  it  can  be 
submitted  to  popular  vote.  .  .  .  The  organs  of  discussion  and  delib- 
eration are  the  trade  journal,  special  circulars,  and  the  local  mass 
meetings.  A  measure  proposed  by  a  local  union  is  stated  in  the 
journal  or  in  a  circular  to  each  branch ;  then  the  question  is  discussed 
in  the  local  meetings  and  perhaps  in  the  columns  of  the  journal. 
As  a  rule,  the  members  vote  on  matters  relating  to  the  national 
organization  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  subordinate  union,  often 
without  secrecy,  in  the  same  way  as  on  purely  local  measures."  In 
the  great  majority  of  American  unions,  the  initiative  and  referendum 
are  used  chiefly  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  national  convention, 
between  the  sessions  of  that  body.  In  Great  Britain,  however,  the 
tendency  has  been  to  abolish  the  national  convention,  and  to  transact 
all  important  business  by  popular  vote.  (See  TRADE  UNION  GOVERN- 
MENT— NATIONAL;  STRIKE  VOTE.) 

Injunction.  With  specific  reference  to  labor  affairs  this  is, 
in  its  usual  form,  a  court  writ  prohibiting  workers  or  the  leaders 
of  their  organizations  from  performing  certain  specific  acts — most 
commonly  those  which  are  considered  essential  to  the  success  of  a 
STRIKE  or  BOYCOTT.  The  violation  of  such  a  writ  involves  summary 
punishment  by  fine  or  imprisonment  or  both,  for  contempt  of  court. 
The  injunction  as  an  anti-labor  weapon  first  came  into  marked 
prominence  during  the  great  Pullman  strike  of  1894  in  Chicago; 
and  since  then  it  has  been  resorted  to  with  ever-increasing  frequency 
in  industrial  disputes.  It  has  even  been  used  to  prohibit  union  officers 
from  advising  or  ordering  workmen  to  go  on  strike,  or  from  distribut- 
ing STRIKE  PAY — as  in  the  notable  injunction  secured  by  the  Federal 
government  under  the  LEVER  ACT  during  the  bituminous  coal-mine 
dispute  of  1919.  Not  labor  leaders  only,  but  many  impartial  jurists 
of  high  rank,  have  protested  against  the  growing  use  of  the  injunc- 
tion. Their  objections  are  thus  summarized  in  the  Report  of  the 
FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION:  "One  serious  ground  of  objection 
is  that  ordinarily  not  sufficient  opportunity  for  hearing  is  given  before 
the  injunction  is  issued.  Judges  may  issue  injunctions  either  in  open 
court  or  in  chambers,  and  a  temporary  injunction  may  be  granted 
with  no  notice  whatever  to  those  affected  by  it.  Before  an  injunction 
is  made  permanent  an  opportunity  for  hearing  is  given,  but  in  many 
instances  the  hearing  is  a  considerable  length  of  time  after  the  pre- 
liminary injunction  has  been  granted,  and  the  object  of  the  restraint 
may  already  have  been  effected.  Of  course,  where  an  injunction  is 
issued  against  unknown  defendants,  or  against  all  persons  in  general, 

[239] 


as  sometimes  happens,  no  possible  opportunity  can  be  given  to  all 
those  affected  to  put  in  an  appearance.  Complaint  is  made  especially 
that  the  injunction  has  in  many  instances  been  directed  against  the 
commission  of  acts  which  are  held  by  the  courts  to  be  in  themselves 
criminal,  and  that  it  has  thus  taken  away  the  right  of  trial  by  jury 
from  those  resorting  to  such  acts.  In  almost  innumerable  cases 
injunctions  have  been  issued  prohibiting  BOYCOTTS,  INTIMIDATION, 
violence,  PICKETING,  and  other  practices  which  the  courts  regularly 
treat  as  ground  not  merely  for  civil  damages,  but  for  criminal  prose- 
cution. .  .  .  Some  of  those  who  oppose  the  extended  use  of  the  injunc- 
tion are  inclined  to  admit  the  validity  of  its  occasional  use  to  protect 
the  property  rights  of  a  private  individual,  even  against  acts  which 
are  criminal,  but  they  assert  that  in  many  cases  the  courts  have  con- 
sidered the  public  injury  rather  than  the  injury  to  a  single  individual 
as  the  chief  ground  for  issuing  the  injunction.  Where  this  is  the 
case,  the  injunction,  according  to  these  writers,  adds  nothing  to  the 
force  of  the  ordinary  criminal  law.  The  only  penalty  which  it  can 
threaten  is  fine  or  imprisonment  of  the  same  nature  as  that  which 
follows  criminal  prosecution.  The  fact  that  the  punishment  for 
violation  of  injunction  may  be  inflicted  somewhat  more  promptly, 
without  the  prolongation  of  a  trial,  is,  it  is  maintained,  no  justifica- 
tion for  its  use.  The  fundamental  object  in  the  use  of  the  injunction, 
in  the  opinion  of  such  legal  writers,  as  well  as  in  the  opinion  of 
workingmen  generally,  is  to  make  punishment  more  sure  by  avoiding 
trial  by  a  jury,  which  might  perhaps  be  influenced  by  sympathy 
or  class  feeling  in  favor  of  the  defendant.  It  has  always  been  the 
principle  of  English  and  American  criminal  law  that  every  man  is 
entitled  to  a  fair  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers.  The  summary  character 
of  hearings  before  judges  regarding  violation  of  injunctions,  giving 
less  opportunity  to  the  defendant  to  present  his  case  fully,  is  also 
complained  of,  as  well  as  the  absence  of  the  right  of  appeal.  .  .  . 
Objection  has  also  been  raised  by  workingmen  against  the  issue  of 
injunctions  by  the  Federal  courts.  Many  labor  cases,  some  involving 
injunctions  and  others  not,  have  indeed  in  recent  years  been  brought 
before  these  courts.  Often  such  cases  have  been  connected  with 
interstate  commerce,  but  in  other  cases  the  ground  on  which  the 
Federal  courts  have  claimed  jurisdiction  is  apparently  the  fact  that 
the  litigants  are  citizens  of  different  states.  Workingmen  often 
complain  that  the  Federal  courts  are  more  disposed  to  favor  capital 
and  its  interests  than  the  State  courts.  Legal  writers  have  also 
sometimes  questioned  the  right  of  the  Federal  courts  to  issue  injunc- 
tions regarding  labor  disputes  as  freely  as  they  do."  The  injunction 

[240] 


plays  but  a  small  part  in  the  labor  affairs  of  foreign  countries,  as 
compared  with  the  United  States.  (See  BLANKET  INJUNCTION; 
MANDATORY  INJUNCTION;  GOVERNMENT  BY  INJUNCTION;  CLAYTON 
ACT;  DEBS  CASE;  BUCK  STOVE  AND  RANGE  CASE;  DUPLEX  PRINTING 
PRESS  CASE.) 

Inside  Men.     See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

Inside  Shop,  Outside  Shop.  As  ordinarily  used,  these 
terms  have  reference  to  a  peculiar  system  of  manufacturing  that 
prevails  in  the  American  clothing  trade.  The  system  is  thus  ex- 
plained in  Commons's  "Trade  Unionism  and  Labor  Problems": 
"The  term  'manufacturer'  in  the  clothing  trade  has  a  peculiar 
significance.  It  means  the  wholesale  merchant,  or  warehouseman. 
The  exact  designation  would  be  'merchant  manufacturer.'  Such 
a  manufacturer  usually  has  an  'inside  shop'  and  several  'outside 
shops.'  The  inside  shop  is  usually  on  the  manufacturer's  own  prem- 
ises, and  includes  the  cutters  who  cut  the  cloth  for  the  contractors, 
the  examiners  who  inspect  the  garments  on  their  return,  and  the 
'bushelmen1  who  repair  and  reshape  the  garments  if  necessary. 
The  '  outside  shops '  are  the  shops  of  contractors  who  take  the  goods 
out  from  the  manufacturer  for  stitching  and  finishing.  If  the  manu- 
facturer does  his  own  work  directly  under  a  superintendent  or 
foreman,  instead  of  indirectly  through  a  contractor,  this  shop  also 
is  known  as  an  'inside  shop.'  Workmen  employed  by  a  contractor 
often  speak  of  themselves  as  employed  by  the  manufacturer  who 
furnishes  the  work  to  the  contractor.  Since  the  manufacturer  sets 
the  contract  price,  it  might  almost  be  said  that  the  contractor  is 
really  the  manufacturer's  foreman,  who  takes  the  responsibility  of 
finding  help,  doing  the  work,  and  making  such  WAGES  OF  MANAGE- 
MENT as  he  can  at  the  price  set  by  the  manufacturer."  (See  CONTRACT 
SYSTEM  IN  THE  GARMENT  TRADES;  SWEATING  SYSTEM.) 

Inside  Union.     See  COMPANY  UNION. 

Instinct  of  Workmanship.  Classed  by  Thorstein  Veblen 
as  a  native  disposition,  this  instinct  is  the  tendency  to  do  a  job  in  a 
painstaking  and  workmanlike  manner,  without  respect  to  the 
attractions  of  any  rewards  outside  the  satisfaction  of  the  "creative 
impulse." 

Instruction  Card  System.  In  nearly  all  plants  operated 
under  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  the  different  shop  processes  are 
carefully  formulated  and  standardized  by  a  special  "planning  de- 

[241] 


partment"  or  "routing  department,"  which  then  supplies  the 
workers  with  detailed  instruction  cards,  usually  listing  the  elementary 
operations  in  their  proper  sequence,  with  the  minimum  time  allowed 
for  each,  and  containing  directions  as  to  speeds,  tools,  etc.  These 
cards  cover  whatever  information  is  required  for  the  particular  work 
in  hand,  and  are  supposed  to  be  followed  explicitly  by  the  individual 
workers. 

Insurance  Feature  of  Trade  Unionism.  See  MUTUAL 
INSURANCE. 

Integration  of  Industry.     See  LARGE-SCALE  PRODUCTION. 

Intellectual  Proletariat.  A  term  sometimes  used  in  desig- 
nation of  the  professional  classes — writers,  teachers,  physicians, 
lawyers,  architects,  electrical  and  mechanical  engineers,  members 
of  highly  technical  trades,  administrative  forces  in  industries,  and 
national  or  municipal  employees.  These  persons  may  be  living 
on  salaries  instead  of  wages,  and  enjoying  a  social  position  above 
that  of  the  wage-worker;  but  it  is  argued  that  they  belong  never- 
theless to  the  PROLETARIAT,  because  their  incomes  are  the  result  of 
their  own  exertions,  and  are  not  derived  from  unearned  increment 
or  capitalistic  EXPLOITATION.  (See  SALARIAT;  MIDDLE  CLASS.) 

Intellectuals.  As  used  in  connection  with  the  working- 
class  and  socialist  movements,  this  term  denotes  those  men  and 
women  who,  although  taking  a  more  or  less  prominent  part  in  the 
movements,  are  not  manual  workers  or  wage-earners.  They  may  be 
capitalists,  philanthropists,  philosophers,  professional  workers,  or 
even  ex-wage-earners;  but  however  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the 
working-class,  they  themselves  are  not  for  the  time  being  members 
of  that  class.  The  intellectuals  are  much  more  closely  identified  with, 
and  play  a  more  prominent  part  in,  the  labor  and  socialist  movements 
of  Europe  than  of  America. 

Intelligence  Offices.  Privately-conducted  EMPLOYMENT  BU- 
REAUS, subsisting  as  a  rule  on  fees  paid  by  the  workers,  are  usually 
so  called  in  the  United  States. 

Interchange  of  Labor.  This  phrase  is  used  by  the  famous 
German  engineering  expert,  Dr.  Walther  Rathenau,  in  designation 
of  his  solution  for  what  he  considers  the  basic  social  evil  of  today — 
"the  soul-crushing  mechanism  of  modern  industry."-  The  phrase  is 
defined  by  Dr.  Rathenau  as  follows:  "By  the  principle  of  Inter- 
change of  Labor  it  is  required  that  every  employee  engaged  in 

[242] 


mechanical  work  can  claim  to  do  a  portion  of  his  day's  work  in 
intellectual  employment;  and  that  every  brain  worker  shall  be 
obliged  to  devote  a  portion  of  his  day  to  physical  labor.  .  .  .  The 
essence  of  the  Interchange  of  Labor  will  consist  in  this:  that  while 
the  distinction  between  physical  and  intellectual  work  will  still 
exist,  there  will  be  no  distinction  between  a  physical  and  an  intel- 
lectual calling." 

Inter -Church  Steel  Report.  Soon  after  the  collapse  of  the 
strike  against  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  in  1919,  the 
Inter-Church  World  Movement  appointed  an  impartial  commission 
to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  strike  and  the  general  conditions 
prevailing  in  the  steel  industry.  After  five  months'  work,  the 
commission  adopted  a  unanimous  report  in  March,  1920,  but  this 
report  was  not  made  public  until  the  end  of  July.  According  to 
the  report,  the  number  of  steel  employees  who  are  working  the 
TWELVE-HOUR  DAY  is  69,000.  The  number  of  those  who  receive  the 
lowest  rate  of  pay — under  $1,466  a  year — is  70,000.  The  investi- 
gators found  that  the  ultimate  control  of  the  plants  was  vested  in 
a  small  group  of  financiers  whose  relation  to  the  producing  force 
was  remote.  The  annual  earnings  of  more  than  one-third  of  all  pro- 
ductive iron  and  steel  workers  of  the  Steel  Corporation  were,  and 
for  years  had  been,  below  the  level  set  by  the  government  experts 
as  the  minimum  standard  of  subsistence  for  families  of  five. 
Further,  "BLACKLISTS  were  used,  workmen  were  discharged  for 
union  affiliation,  'UNDER-COVER  MEN'  and  'labor  detectives'  were 
employed.  In  Western  Pennsylvania  the  civil  rights  of  free  speech 
and  free  assembly  were  abrogated  without  just  cause.  Personal 
rights  of  strikers  were  violated  by  the  STATE  CONSTABULARY  and 
Sheriff's  deputies."  "The  organizing  campaign  of  the  workers 
and  the  strike  were  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  a  conference  in  an 
industry  where  no  means  of  conference  existed."  "Charges  of 
bolshevism  or  of  industrial  radicalism  in  the  conduct  of  the  strike 
were  without  foundation."  The  chief  reason  for  the  failure  of  the 
strike  was  the  size  of  the  Steel  Corporation.  The  causes  of  the  strike 
lay  in  grievances  which  gave  the  workers  just  cause  for  complaint 
and  for  action.  The  report  recommends  a  commission,  set  up  by 
the  Federal  government,  to  inaugurate  conferences  between  the 
Steel  Corporation  and  its  employees  for  the  elimination  of  the  twelve- 
hour  day  and  the  seven-day  week  and  for  the  readjustment  of  wage 
rates.  As  yet  no  such  commission  has  been  set  up,  nor  has  any  action 
been  taken  to  prevent  the  otherwise  inevitable  recurrence  of  similar 
labor  troubles  in  the  steel  industry. 

[243] 


Intercollegiate  Socialist  Society.  Organized  in  New  York 
City  in  1905  as  a  purely  educational  agency,  unaffiliated  with  any 
political  party,  "for  the  purpose  of  promoting  an  intelligent  interest 
in  SOCIALISM  among  college  men  and  women,  graduates  and  under- 
graduates." The  society  has  established  chapters  for  the  study  of 
socialism  in  many  colleges  and  centres  of  population.  It  conducts 
a  magazine,  send  lecturers  to  colleges,  organizes  conferences  and 
conventions,  publishes  pamphlets,  etc. 

Intercontinental  Union.     See  TRADE  UNION. 

Interim  Industrial  Reconstruction  Committees.  Joint 
bodies,  consisting  of  representatives  of  employers'  associations  and 
trade  unions  in  equal  number,  formed  since  the  armistice  by  the 
British  Ministry  of  Reconstruction,  in  association  with  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  the  Ministry  of  Labor.  A  committee  is  set  up  for  each 
industry  in  which,  owing  to  various  reasons,  the  formation  of  JOINT 
INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  under  the  WHITLEY  PLAN  has  been  delayed. 
The  committees  are  intended  to  exercise  a  large  initiative  in  devising 
means  by  which  the  transition  from  war  to  peace  conditions  may  be 
most  smoothly  effected,  and  the  way  opened  to  the  rapid  restoration 
of  industrial, enterprise.  As  soon  as  the  trade  or  industry  is  sufficiently 
well  organized,  the  purpose  is  to  replace  the  interim  industrial  com- 
mittee with  permanent  joint  industrial  councils. 

International,  (i)  The  international  socialist-labor  organiza- 
tion described  in  the  entry,  INTERNATIONALE.  (2)  A  term  often 
applied  to  the  whole  body  or  central  governing  authority  of  an 
American  trade  union.  (See  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNION.) 

International  Association  for  Labor  Legislation.  Organ- 
ized in  1900,  as  "a  bond  of  union  to  those  who,  in  the  different  in- 
dustrial countries,  believe  in  the  necessity  of  protective  LABOR  LEGIS- 
LATION." Through  its  central  organization  at  Basle,  Switzerland, 
through  its  international  biennial  conferences,  and  through  its 
affiliated  "national  sections"  (of  which  there  were  fifteen  in  1920), 
the  Association  has  carried  on  a  most  important  work  in  the  collec- 
tion and  publication  of  the  labor  laws  of  all  countries,  in  the  investi- 
gation of  industrial  conditions  and  the  study  of  industrial  problems, 
and  in  the  formulation  and  promotion  of  legislation  based  on  such 
investigation  and  study.  The  Association  has  been  reorganized  since 
the  formation  of  the  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR  ORGANIZATION  under 
the  League  of  Nations,  which  in  a  sense  takes  over  the  Association's 
main  work.  Its  present  objects  are  stated  to  be:  (i)  To  promote 

[244] 


the  ratification,  legal  enactment,  and  enforcement  of  the  draft 
conventions  and  recommendations  adopted  by  the  GENERAL  LABOR 
CONFERENCES  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS;  (2)  to  use  its  influence 
with  reference  to  the  subjects  on  the  agenda  of  these  conferences; 
and  (3)  to  collect  information,  conduct  investigation,  and  publish 
memoranda  on  questions  concerning  international  labor.  Its  Amer- 
ican "section,"  the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation, 
has  been  a  factor  of  large  importance  in  the  investigation,  promotion, 
and  enforcement  of  ameliorative  labor  laws  in  the  United  States. 

International  Congress  of  Working  Women.  An  important 
gathering  of  representative  working  women  from  nineteen  countries, 
called  by  the  NATIONAL  WOMEN'S  TRADE  UNION  LEAGUE  OF  AMERICA, 
to  consider  those  portions  of  the  Versailles  treaty  relating  to  women 
and  children.  The  Congress  was  held  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  Oct.  28- 
Nov.  6,  1919,  simultaneously  with  the  early  sessions  of  the  first 
GENERAL  LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS,  which 
contained  no  women  delegates.  Important  papers  were  read,  reso- 
lutions adopted,  a  provisional  committee  elected  for  the  purpose  of 
calling  another  Congress,  and  arrangements  made  for  an  international 
business  office  in  the  United  States. 

International  Cooperative  Alliance.  A  federation  of  the 
principal  national  cooperative  societies  in  all  countries,  established 
in  1895.  The  aims  and  purposes  of  the  Alliance  are  as  follows:  "  (i) 
The  ascertaining  and  propaganda  of  cooperative  principles  and 
methods;  (2)  the  promotion  of  COOPERATION  in  all  countries;  (3) 
the  keeping  up  of  friendly  relations  between  the  members  of  the 
Alliance;  (4)  the  collection  and  unification  of  cooperative  statistics; 
(5)  the  provision  of  information  and  the  encouragement  of  studies 
concerning  cooperation;  (6)  the  promotion  of  trading  relations  be- 
tween the  cooperative  organizations  of  the  various  countries." 
Except  during  the  war,  Congresses  of  the  Alliance  have  been  held 
every  two  or  three  years.  According  to  recent  figures,  the  Alliance 
represents  twenty-four  national  units,  which  in  turn  represent  about 
130,000  cooperative  societies,  with  some  twenty  million  family 
members. 

International  Council  of  Trade  and  Industrial  Unions. 
Organized  at  the  second  congress  of  the  COMMUNIST  INTERNATIONALE, 
held  at  Moscow  in  July,  1920,  as  "a  militant  international  committee 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  trade  union  movement"  working  in 
conjunction  with  the  executive  committee  of  the  third  (Communist) 
17  [  245  ] 


Internationale.  The  specific  aims  and  objects  of  the  organization, 
as  stated  in  its  "provisional  rules,"  are  as  follows:  "(i)  To  carry  on 
an  insistent  and  continuous  propaganda  for  the  ideas  of  the  revolu- 
tionary CLASS  STRUGGLE,  social  revolution,  DICTATORSHIP  OF  THE 
PROLETARIAT  and  mass  revolutionary  action  with  the  object  of 
destroying  the  capitalist  system  and  the  bourgeois  State.  (2)  To 
fight  against  the  disease  of  class  cooperation  which  is  weakening  the 
labor  movement,  and  against  the  hope  that  a  peaceful  transition 
from  capitalism  is  possible.  (3)  To  unite  all  the  revolutionary  ele- 
ments in  the  world  trade  union  movement  and  to  conduct  a  deter- 
mined struggle  against  the  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR  ORGANIZATION 
of  the  League  of  Nations  and  against  the  programme  and  tactics 
of  the  INTERNATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS  in  Amster- 
dam. (4)  To  take  the  initiative  in  organizing  an  international 
campaign  on  the  outstanding  facts  of  the  class  struggle  and  organize 
the  collection  of  funds  for  the  support  of  strikes  and  great  conflicts, 
etc.  (5)  To  collect  all  material  concerning  the  international  labor 
movement  and  to  keep  all  the  organizations  affiliated  to  the  Inter- 
national Council  of  Trade  Unions  informed  as  to  the  movement  in 
other  countries.  (6)  To  publish  books,  leaflets,  pamphlets  affecting 
the  international  movement."  The  International  Council  is  composed 
of  representatives  of  Russia,  Italy,  Spain,  Jugo-Slavia,  Bulgaria, 
France,  Georgia,  one  representative  for  each  country  and  one  dele- 
gate for  each  general  national  centre  which  belongs  to  the  Interna- 
tional Council  of  Trade  Unions.  The  Council  also  includes  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Communist  Internationale. 
The  Council  also  elects  an  Executive  Bureau  of  three  persons,  includ- 
ing a  general  secretary  and  a  delegate  to  the  executive  of  the  Com- 
munist Internationale.  Only  those  trade  unions  or  minorities  of 
trade  unions  "that  conduct  a  revolutionary  struggle  in  their  country 
and  recognize  proletarian  dictatorship"  are  entitled  to  representa- 
tion at  the  international  conferences  called  by  the  Council.  Tem- 
porary headquarters  have  been  established  at  Moscow.  The 
Council  is  often  referred  to  as  the  "Red"  or  "Moscow"  Trade  Union 
Internationale.  (See  INTERNATIONAL  TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

International  Federation  of  Labor.  See  INTERNATIONAL 
FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS. 

International  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  Organized  at 
Copenhagen  in  1901,  as  the  International  Trade  Union  Secretariat, 
this  was  for  many  years  merely  an  international  centre  for  the  col- 
lection and  publication  of  statistics,  exchange  of  information  and 

[246] 


appeals,  promotion  of  LABOR  LEGISLATION,  etc.  Permanent  head- 
quarters were  maintained  in  Berlin,  and  an  international  conference 
was  held  every  two  years.  The  title  of  the  organization  was  changed 
to  its  present  form  in  1913.  After  its  almost  complete  disruption 
during  the  world  war,  the  Federation  was  reconstituted  at  an  inter- 
national trade  union  conference  held  at  Amsterdam  in  July,  1919, 
delegates  being  present  from  fourteen  countries  (including  Germany 
and  Austria),  representing  about  18,000,000  trade  union  members. 
The  objects  of  the  reconstituted  Federation  are:  "(i)  The  promotion 
of  the  interests  and  endeavors  of  the  organizations  affiliated  on  a 
national  and  international  basis.  (2)  The  promotion  of  the  trade 
union  movement,  both  national  and  international,  in  the  countries 
not  affiliated.  (3)  The  promotion  of  combined  action  on  all  questions 
of  mutual  trade  union  interest.  (4)  The  prevention  of  international 
blacklegging.  (5)  The  provision  of  funds  for  the  promotion  and 
furtherance  of  the  foregoing  objects,  and  such  other  trade  union 
objects  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  incorporated  in  the  rules." 
Permanent  headquarters  were  established  in  Amsterdam.  The 
Federation  consists  of  "the  national  and  trade  union  centres  of  those 
countries  which  are  organized  on  a  trade  union  basis,"  only  one 
"national  centre"  from  each  country  being  admitted.  Each  affili- 
ated body  is  entitled  to  send  one  delegate  to  the  biennial  confer- 
ence at  the  expense  of  the  Federation,  and  one  or  more  additional 
delegates  at  its  own  expense;  and  each  affiliated  body  has  one  vote 
for  every  250,000  of  its  members  or  fraction  thereof.  The  expenses 
of  the  Federation  are  met  by  a  per  capita  tax  of  one-half  cent  a  year 
for  each  member  of  an  affiliated  body.  Management  of  the  organi- 
zation is  vested  in  a  permanent  central  bureau  of  five  officers  (known 
as  the  International  Trade  Union  Secretariat)  meeting  monthly,  a 
management  committee  consisting  of  the  bureau  and  ten  represen- 
tatives of  the  affiliated  countries  meeting  twice  a  year,  and  the 
biennial  conference.  In  addition  to  the  inclusion  of  trade  union 
action  in  its  reconstituted  policy,  the  Federation  has  recently  adopted 
resolutions  favoring  SOCIALIZATION  and  the  international  control 
and  distribution  of  raw  materials,  and  "international  mass  action 
in  the  assault  on  reaction,  in  declaring  war  against  war  and  for  the 
realization  of  a  new  social  system."  These  radical  tendencies  proved 
too  much  for  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  which  had 
played  a  prominent  part  in  reconstituting  the  International  Feder- 
ation, and  it  definitely  withdrew  its  affiliation  in  the  autumn  of 
1920.  To  distinguish  it  from  the  international  socialist  organiza- 
tion, the  International  Federation  is  often  called  the  Trade  Union 

[247] 


Internationale,  or  (since  the  formation  of  a  rival  body  in  Moscow) 
the  Amsterdam  Trade  Union  Internationale.  Notwithstanding  the 
defection  of  the  United  States  and  Russian  sections,  24,000,000 
trade  unionists  were  represented  at  a  special  conference  of  the 
International  Federation  of  Trade  Unions  in  November,  1920. 
(See  INTERNATIONAL  TRADE  UNIONISM;  BOYCOTT.) 

International  Labor  Conferences.  See  GENERAL  LABOR 
CONFERENCES  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS. 

International  Labor  Office.  The  Treaty  of  Versailles  pro- 
vides that  such  an  office  shall  be  established  at  the  seat  of  the  Lsague 
of  Nations  (Geneva),  forming  with  the  "General  Conference  of 
Representatives  of  the  Members"  the  permanent  INTERNATIONAL 
LABOR  ORGANIZATION  of  the  League.  "The  functions  of  the  Interna- 
tional Labor  Office  shall  include  the  collection  and  distribution  of 
information  on  all  subjects  relating  to  the  international  adjustment 
of  conditions  of  industrial  life  and  labor,  and  particularly  the  ex- 
amination of  subjects  which  it  is  proposed  to  bring  before  the  Con- 
ference with  a  view  to  the  conclusion  of  international  conventions, 
and  the  conduct  of  such  special  investigations  as  may  be  ordered 
by  the  Conference.  ...  It  will  edit  and  publish  in  French  and  English 
and  in  such  other  languages  as  the  Governing  Body  may  think 
desirable,  a  periodical  paper  dealing  with  problems  of  industry  and 
employment  of  international  interest."  The  Governing  Body  which 
controls  the  Office  is  composed  as  follows:  "Twelve  persons  repre- 
senting the  governments;  six  persons  elected  by  the  delegates  to  the 
Conference  representing  the  employers;  six  persons  elected  by  the 
delegates  to  the  Conference  representing  the  workers.  Of  the  twelve 
persons  representing  the  governments  eight  shall  be  nominated  by 
the  members  [of  the  League]  which  are  of  the  chief  industrial  im- 
portance, and  four  shall  be  nominated  by  the  members  selected 
for  .the  purpose  by  the  government  delegates  to  the  Conference, 
excluding  the  delegates  of  the  eight  members  mentioned  above. 
Any  question  as  to  which  are  the  members  of  the  chief  industrial 
importance  shall  be  decided  by  the  Council  of  the  League  of  Nations." 
Term  of  office  is  three  years,  and  the  method  of  filling  vacancies  is 
determined  by  the  Governing  Body  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
Conference.  In  addition,  it  is  provided  that  "there  shall  be  a  director 
of  the  International  Labor  Office,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
Governing  Body,  and,  subject  to  the  instructions  of  the  Governing 
Body,  shall  be  responsible  for  the  efficient  conduct  of  the  Office 
and  for  such  other  duties  as  may  be  assigned  to  him."  The  work  of 

[248] 


the  Office  has  been  separated  into  two  main  divisions,  designated 
the  Scientific  Division  and  the  Diplomatic  Division  respectively. 
The  Scientific  Division  is  responsible  for  the  collection,  compila- 
tion, and  dissemination  of  information  of  international  interest  or 
importance  about  industrial  and  labor  conditions  in  all  countries. 
The  main  function  of  the  Diplomatic  Division  is  to  conduct  the  formal 
official  correspondence  with  governments,  and  to  direct  the  relation- 
ships of  the  Office  with  the  different  members  of  the  International 
Labor  Organization.  In  addition  to  these  two  Divisions,  eight 
"Technical  Services"  have  been  created  for  the  purpose  of  advising 
the  Director  of  the  Office  on  certain  important  matters,  and  to  assist 
the  two  Divisions  in  preparing  for  conferences  and  making  reports 
and  special  studies.  These  Technical  Services  have  to  do  with  the 
following  subjects:  (i)  Emigration  and  UNEMPLOYMENT;  (2)  agri- 
culture; (3)  Russia;  (4)  Industrial  hygiene;  (5)  COOPERATION;  (6) 
maritime  affairs;  (7)  SOCIAL  INSURANCE;  (8)  production.  As  the 
work  of  the  Office  progresses,  other  services  will  be  added  from  time 
to  time. 

International  Labor  Organization.  The  first  clause  of 
Article  23  of  the  Covenant  of  the  League  of  Nations  declares  that 
the  members  of  the  League  "will  endeavor  to  secure  and  maintain 
fair  and  humane  conditions  of  labor  for  men,  women,  and  children, 
both  in  their  own  countries  and  in  all  countries  to  which  their  com- 
mercial and  industrial  relations  extend,  and  for  that  purpose  will 
establish  and  maintain  the  necessary  international  organizations." 
In  accordance  with  this  provision,  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  creates 
a  permanent  International  Labor  Organization  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  international  labor,  consisting  of  (i)  a  General  Conference  of 
Representatives  of  the  Members,  and  (2)  an  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR 
OFFICE.  Permanent  headquarters  of  the  organization  are  established 
at  Geneva,  Switzerland, — the  seat  of  the  League.  It  is  provided 
that  "the  original  members  of  the  League  of  Nations  shall  be  the 
original  members  of  this  organization,  and  hereafter  membership 
of  the  League  of  Nations  shall  carry  with  it  membership  of  the  said 
organization."  As  summarized  by  Albert  Thomas,  Director  of  the 
International  Labor  Office,  two  main  tasks  were  entrusted  to  this 
organization.  "The  first  was  to  establish  everywhere  humane  con- 
ditions of  labor;  to  institute  and  apply  a  system  of  International 
Labor  Legislation,  subject  to  reservations  imposed  by  the  sovereignty 
of  each  State  and  the  conditions  prevailing  therein.  All  the  con~ 
tracting  States,  inspired  both  by  considerations  of  humanity  and  by 

[249] 


fear  of  unfair  competition,  undertook  to  secure  better  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  equal  conditions  for  all  the  workers  of  the  world  by  the  adop- 
tion of  uniform  Draft  Conventions  or  Recommendations.  Precise 
constitutional  rules  were  established.  The  texts  of  the  Draft  Con- 
ventions and  Recommendations  are  settled  by  the  General  Conference, 
which  meets  at  least  once  a  year.  The  International  Labor  Office, 
under  the  direction  of  its  Governing  Body,  prepares  the  Agenda  for 
the  meetings  of  the  Conference,  corresponds  with  Governments 
with  regard  to  the  ratification  by  each  State  of  the  Conventions 
adopted  and  will  eventually  follow  up  their  application.  For  the 
purpose  it  may  organize  enquiries  and  undertake  inspection  and, 
where  necessary,  may  have  recourse  to  its  sanctions."  (See  GENERAL 
LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS;  LABOR  PLATFORM 
OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS;  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  FOR  LABOR 
LEGISLATION.) 

International  League  of  Young  Communists.  See  YOUNG 
COMMUNIST  INTERNATIONALE. 

International  Socialism.    See  INTERNATIONALE. 

International  Socialist  Bureau.  Established  1900,  as  the 
permanent  central  organization  of  the  second  INTERNATIONALE. 
Its  functions  are  to  carry  out  the  decisions  of  the  INTERNATIONAL 
SOCIALIST  CONGRESS,  held  ordinarily  every  second  or  third  year; 
to  convene  special  Congresses  in  cases  of  emergency;  and  to  maintain 
international  archives  for  socialist  literature  and  documents.  The 
Bureau  consists  of  two  representatives  from  each  of  the  adhering 
countries  elected  by  the  national  sections  of  the  Congress.  The 
members  of  the  INTERPARLIAMENTARY  COMMISSION  are  at  the  same 
time  alternate  delegates  to  the  Bureau  and  have  the  right  to  take 
part  in  its  meetings.  The  Bureau  has  a  permanent  secretary  whose 
duty  it  is  to  obtain  and  compile  required  information,  to  report  on 
the  state  of  the  socialist  movement,  to  maintain  a  library,  and  to 
publish  studies  on  the  more  important  socialist  problems.  The  per- 
manent secretary,  a  president,  and  two  other  Belgian  members 
make  up  the  executive  commission  of  the  Bureau.  Headquarters 
are  maintained  in  Brussels,  and  expenses  are  met  by  contributions 
of  the  adhering  national  sections. 

International  Socialist  Congresses.    The  periodic  confer 
ences  which  form  the  chief  activity  of  the  INTERNATIONALE.    The 
following  regulations  in  regard  to  admission  were  adopted  at  the 
Paris  Congress  of  1900:     "Those  admitted  to  the  International 

[250] 


Socialist  Congresses  are  (i)  all  associations  which  adhere  to  the 
essential  principles  of  SOCIALISM:  SOCIALIZATION  of  the  means  of 
production  and  exchange,  international  union  and  action  of  the  work- 
ers, conquest  of  public  powers  by  the  PROLETARIAT,  organized  as 
a  class  party;  (2)  all  the  labor  organizations  which  accept  the  prin- 
ciples of  CLASS  STRUGGLE  and  recognize  the  necessity  of  POLITICAL 
ACTION  (legislative  and  parliamentary)  but  do  not  participate  directly 
in  the  political  movement."  Under  the  first  Internationale  (1866- 
1872)  six  Congresses  were  held.  Up  to  the  outbreak  of  war  in  1914, 
the  second  Internationale  held  nine  Congresses.  (See  INTERNATIONAL 
SOCIALIST  BUREAU.) 

International  Trade  Union  Secretariat.  See  INTERNATIONAL 
FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS;  INTERNATIONAL  TRADE  UNIONISM. 

International  Trade  Unionism.  As  a  distinct  and  separate 
movement,  international  trade  unionism  developed  somewhat  more 
tardily  than  the  international  political  (socialist)  labor  movement, 
partly  because  it  was  at  first  incorporated  with  the  political  move- 
ment, and  partly  because  of  the  general  prevalence  of  laws  against 
organization  which  were  in  force  in  most  European  countries  until 
well  into  the  igth  century.  Of  recent  years,  approximately  since 
1900,  international  trade  unionism  and  the  international  political 
labor  movement  have  formally  maintained  separate  organizations. 
Yet  it  is  true  that  in  many  countries  the  leaders  are  the  same  in  both 
groups,  and  the  political  theories  of  the  members  of  both  groups 
are,  on  the  whole,  identical.  Three  main  aspects  of  the  international 
trade  union  movement,  in  its  non-political  character,  should  be 
distinguished.  There  are,  first,  some  thirty  or  more  separate  inter- 
national trade  or  occupational  federations — the  miners,  metal  work- 
ers, printers,  textile  workers,  transport  workers,  farm  workers, 
seamen,  etc. — the  central  offices  or  bureaus  of  which  are  commonly 
known  as  "International  Trade  Union  Secretariats."  The  earliest 
and  largest  of  these,  the  International  Miners'  Federation,  was 
founded  in  1890.  The  main  functions  of  such  organizations  before 
the  war  were  the  holding  of  periodic  conferences  and  (through  their 
respective  Secretariats)  the  collection  of  trade  union  statistics, 
etc.  Since  the  war,  however,  they  have  become  much  more  active 
and  militant.  A  second  phase  of  international  trad 3  unionism  is 
represented  by  the  INTERNATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  TRADE  UNIONS, 
with  which  are  affiliated  the  leading  national  federations  of  labor  and 
national  trade  federations  in  various  countries.  Since  the  war  this 
organization  also  has  changed  from  a  mild  secretarial  and  debating 

[251] 


agency  to  a  somewhat  aggressive  organ  of  mass  action  and  social- 
istic agitation.  The  third  and  most  recent  phase  consists  in  the 
INTERNATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS,  a 
federation  of  revolutionary  trade  unions  and  labor  groups  in  variou,s 
countries,  working  in  conjunction  with  the  COMMUNIST  INTERNA- 
TIONALE and  frankly  devoted  to  extremist  methods  in  thi  war 
against  capitalism. 

International  Union.  In  the  American  labor  movement, 
there  is  little  if  any  real  distinction  between  the  "national"  and  the 
"international"  union  as  types  of  labor  organization;  although  as 
a  rule  the  "international"  has  local  units  in  Canada  and  perhaps  in 
Mexico,  while  as  a  rule  the  "national"  has  not.  At  the  best,  the 
American  "international"  is  commonly  only  a  "continental"  union. 
Outside  America,  the  term  "international  union"  is  more  properly 
applied  to  either  (i)  an  organization,  such  as  the  Amalgamated 
Society  of  Engineers,  which  has  branches  scattered  quite  generally 
throughout  the  English-speaking  world;  or  (2)  an  organization,  such 
as  the  International  Miners'  Federation,  which  has  affiliations  in 
practically  every  important  country  of  the  world.  (See  TRADE 
UNION;  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNION.) 

International  Workingmen's  Association.  See  INTERNA- 
TIONALE. 

International  Working  Union  o.f  Socialist  Parties.  Be- 
tween the  right  wing  of  the  international  socialist  movement,  as 
represented  by  the  second  INTERNATIONALE,  and  the  left  wing,  as 
represented  by  the  third,  stands  the  so-called  centre,  which  includes 
some  of  the  most  influential  groups  and  leaders  in  the  present-day 
movement.  They  have  withdrawn  from  the  second  Internationale, 
which  they  consider  too  reactionary  and  too  stained  with  war  com- 
promises; but  they  still  hold  aloof  from  the  third,  as  swinging  too 
violently  in  the  opposite  direction.  At  a  Congress  held  at  Vienna 
in  February,  1921,  these  centrist  groups  organized  into  a  somewhat 
temporary  "Working  Union,"  membership  being  open  to  all  parties 
which  aim  at  "realizing  SOCIALISM  by  the  conquest  of  political  and 
economic  power  along  the  lines  of  the  revolutionary  CLASS  STRUGGLE," 
and  which  belong  to  "neither  of  the  party  alliances  calling  themselves 
the  'Second'  or  the  'Third'  Internationale."  The  British  INDEPEND- 
ENT LABOR  PARTY  is  a  leading  member  of  this  "Working  Union," 
which  is  variously  referred  to  as  the  "two  and  a  half,"  the  "fourth," 
the  "pink,"  and  the  "Vienna"  Internationale. 

[252] 


Internationale  or  International.  The  famous  organization 
of  international  socialist-labor  activities  commonly  known  as  "the 
Internationale"  or  "the  Workers'  Internationale"  (in  both  cases 
often  spelt  without  the  final  e)  was  founded  at  London  in  1864  as  the 
International  Workingmen's  Association.  Its  founders  were  British 
trade  unionists  and  a  number  of  political  refugees  from  various  con- 
tinental countries.  The  original  constitution  and  "declaration  of 
principles"  were  drafted  by  Karl  Marx.  At  its  first  Congress,  held 
at  Geneva  in  1866,  delegates  were  present  from  England,  France, 
and  Switzerland  only.  But  it  was  not  long  before  nearly  all  important 
countries  were  represented  in  the  membership,  and  the  influence  of 
the  organization  in  international  socialist-labor  affairs  became  great. 
Six  Congresses  were  held  during  the  period  1866-1872.  The  defeat 
of  the  Paris  Commune,  which  the  Internationale  had  fervently  sup- 
ported, and  an  internal  conflict  between  the  Marxian  socialists  and 
the  Bakunin  anarchists,  led  to  the  disruption  of  the  organization, 
and  it  was  formally  dissolved  at  a  conference  held  in  1876  at  Phila- 
delphia. Its  successor,  the  second  Internationale,  grew  out  of  two 
separate  Congresses  held  by  reformist  and  revolutionary  socialists 
at  Paris  in  1889.  At  the  Brussels  Congress  two  years  later  the  two 
sections  united.  Seven  Congresses  were  held  thereafter  up  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  world  war.  At  the  Paris  Congress  of  1900  there  was 
created  a  central  administrative  office,  the  INTERNATIONAL  SOCIALIST 
BUREAU.  The  outbreak  of  war  in  1914,  and  the  division  of  socialist- 
labor  bodies  throughout  Europe  into  pro-war  and  anti-war  groups, 
hopelessly  disrupted  the  second  Internationale  for  nearly  five  years. 
It  was  finally  reconstructed  in  greatly  weakened  form  by  the  mod- 
erate elements  among  British  and  continental  socialists,  at  a  confer- 
ence held  in  Berne,  Switzerland,  in  February,  1919.  In  March  of 
the  same  year  the  radical  or  left-wing  groups  of  the  socialist-labor 
movement  met  at  Moscow,  and  under  the  leadership  of  the  Russian 
Communist  Party  organized  the  third  or  COMMUNIST  INTERNATION- 
ALE. There  are  thus  two  rival  "Internationales"  in  the  field  at  the 
present  time,  representing  respectively  the  right-wing  and  the  left- 
wing  sections  of  the  socialist-labor  movement,  with  the  centrist 
elements  separately  grouped  in  a  more  or  less  temporary  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  INTERNATIONAL  WORKING  UNION  OF  SOCIALIST 
PARTIES.  Between  these  rival  bodies  a  bitter  struggle  is  in  progress 
— a  struggle  marked  by  continual  shift  and  change,  as  one  element 
or  another  in  one  of  the  bodies  goes  over  to  a  rival  camp.  The 
ultimate  alignment  of  forces  is  as  yet  impossible  to  discern.  The 
second  Internationale  claims  to  represent  about  fourteen  million 

[253] 


socialists  and  trade  unionists  throughout  the  world.  The  tide  is 
still  running  too  swiftly  to  permit  of  any  accurate  estimate  of  the 
third  Internationale's  present  numerical  strength.  But  with  its 
recent  conquest  of  the  German  Independent  Socialists  and  the  French 
Socialist  Party,  it  has  assumed  an  importance  which  cannot  be 
easily  discounted.  The  first  Internationale  is  commonly  called  the 
Geneva  Internationale;  the  second  was  originally  known  as  the 
Paris  Internationale,  but  in  its  reconstituted  form  is  generally  re- 
ferred to  as  the  Berne  Internationale;  while  the  third  or  Communist 
Internationale  is  also  variously  termed  the  Moscow,  Red,  and  Bol- 
shevik Internationale.  Adherents  of  the  latter  often  refer  to  the 
second  Internationale  as  the  Yellow  Internationale,  in  scornful 
disparagement  of  its  moderate  tendencies.  (See  INTERNATIONAL 
SOCIALIST  CONGRESSES;  INTERPARLIAMENTARY  COMMISSION;  COM- 
MUNIST MANIFESTO.) 

Internationalists.  In  general,  those  who  favor  international- 
ism, as  opposed  to  nationalism;  more  specifically,  members  of  the 
INTERNATIONALE,  or  International  Workingmen's  Association. 

Interparliamentary  Commission.  A  subordinate  body  of 
the  second  INTERNATIONALE;  established  through  a  resolution  of 
the  Amsterdam  Congress  of  August,  1904.  It  consists  of  one  dele- 
gate from  each  nation  represented  in  the  INTERNATIONAL  SOCIALIST 
BUREAU  which  has  declared  its  willingness  to  take  part  in  the  Com- 
mission. It  aims  to  secure  uniform  parliamentary  action  in  the 
various  countries,  and  assists  in  attaining  this  end  by  the  collection 
of  the  laws  and  by  interchange  of  parliamentary  discussions.  In 
connection  with  a  meeting  of  the  Bureau  there  is  held  annually  a 
conference  in  which  all  members  of  the  adhering  parties  may  take 
part.  The  members  of  the  Bureau  may  take  part  in  the  sessions  of 
the  Commission  in  an  advisory  capacity.  The  voting  of  the  Com- 
mission is  similar  to  that  of  the  Bureau.  Its  expenses  are  raised 
through  dues  and  voluntary  contributions. 

Interstate  Joint  Conferences  in  the  Coal -Mining  Industry. 
One  of  the  most  important  examples  of  large-scale  COLLECTIVE  BAR- 
GAINING is  to  be  found  in  the  annual  joint  conference  held  between 
the  bituminous  coal  OPERATORS  and  representatives  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  for  the  several  districts  of  what  is  called  the  "cen- 
tral competitive  field" — comprising  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  and 
western  Pennsylvania.  These  conferences  have  been  called  "the 
largest  industrial  parliament  in  the  world."  On  one  side  sit  the 

[254] 


operators,  on  the  other  the  representatives  of  the  local  unions  of  the 
miners;  constituting  what  is  practically  a  representative  legislative 
body  with  two  branches.  From  the  discussions  and  deliberations 
of  this  body  an  agreement  is  developed  which  covers  the  broader 
or  basic  elements  of  wages  and  working  conditions  in  the  several  coal 
districts,  the  prime  purposes  being  to  equalize  competitive  conditions 
between  operators  in  the  different  districts  and  create  uniform 
standards  for  the  workers.  The  details  of  wage  scales  and  of  mining 
methods  are  left  to  adjustment  by  state  and  district  conferences. 
The  operators  and  miners  of  each  state  are  allowed  the  same  number 
of  votes — four;  and  every  important  decision  must  be  reached  by 
unanimous  vote.  In  actual  practice,  the  greater  part  of  the  work 
of  bringing  about  an  agreement  is  performed  by  the  so-called  "scale 
committee,"  made  up  of  an  equal  number  of  operators  and  miners 
from  each  state.  This  joint  scale  committee  reports  from  time  to 
time  to  the  convention  the  progress  which  is  being  made,  and  after 
discussion  in  general  conference  the  unsettled  questions  are  referred 
back  to  the  scale  committee  for  settlement.  When  the  latter  body 
makes  its  final  report,  this  is  as  a  rule  unanimously  adopted  without 
change.  The  interstate  agreement  method  is  followed  also  in  what 
is  called  the  southwestern  district — comprising  Arkansas,  Oklahoma, 
Missouri,  and  Kansas — and,  on  a  more  limited  geographical  basis, 
in  some  other  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  (See  JOINT 
CONFERENCE  SYSTEM;  TURN  LIST.) 

Intimidation.  In  connection  with  STRIKES  and  LOCKOUTS, 
this  term  has  been  variously  interpreted  by  the  courts.  Some  magis- 
trates have  held  that  intimidation,  as  a  criminal  offense,  consisted 
in  the  utterance  by  a  trade  unionist  of  any  threat  or  warning  to  an 
employer  or  non-union  worker;  while  others  have  ruled  that  it  must 
involve  some  degree  of  actual  physical  violence.  "In  many  States 
are  found  statutes  expressly  prohibiting  intimidation  of  workmen  or 
others  in  their  lawful  business,  while  in  those  States  which  have 
specifically  legalized  strikes  the  laws  ordinarily  except  combinations 
for  the  purpose  of  intimidating  or  coercing  others,  which  are  de- 
clared illegal.  In  the  absence  of  statutes  the  courts  ordinarily  go 
quite  as  far  under  the  common  law.  The  decisions  on  this  subject 
rest  on  the  general  principle,  frequently  enunciated,  that  it  is  the 
fundamental  right  of  every  individual  to  carry  on  his  lawful  business 
or  labor  without  interference.  Most  commonly  the  courts,  in  con- 
demning acts  of  strikers  in  influencing  others  to  quit  employment 
or  to  refrain  from  seeking  it,  characterize  them  as  '  intimidation '  or 


'coercion.'  Just  how  far  men  may  go  in  addressing  other  men  without 
'intimidating'  them  is  obviously  a  difficult  matter  to  decide.  Ap- 
parently the  courts  have  been  generally  disposed  to  employ  these 
terms  very  widely.  The  acts  of  strikers  which  are  generally  con- 
sidered in  this  connection  are  either  the  placing  of  'pickets'  or 
'patrols'  in  comparatively  small  numbers  to  accost  those  seeking 
employment  at  the  plant  struck  against,  or  the  gathering  together  of 
large  bodies  of  men  in  the  vicinity  of  the  works  for  a  similar  purpose. 
The  courts  have  almost  uniformly  held  that  the  continued  presence 
of  a  large  body  of  men  is  in  itself  a  threat,  and  especially  that,  where 
such  an  assemblage  is  accompanied  by  the  use  of  opprobrious  lan- 
guage, cries  of  'SCAB,'  threats  of  injury,  or  demonstrations  giving 
ground  for  fear  of  physical  injury,  it  constitutes  unlawful  intimida- 
tion. It  has  been  asserted  by  several  courts  that,  while  the  bearing 
of  pickets  may,  in  some  cases,  be  such  as  to  amount  to  intimidation, 
strikers  are  within  their  rights  if  the  number  of  pickets  is  small, 
and  if  they  confine  themselves  merely  to  informing  men  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  strike  and  of  its  cause,  and  to  persuading  them  not  to  enter 
employment.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  courts  very  often, 
perhaps  usually,  discover  in  the  acts  of  pickets  evidences  of  actual 
intimidation."  While  the  above  statement  follows  the  popular  and 
legal  habit  of  viewing  intimidation  as  exclusively  a  working-class 
offense,  it  must  in  justice  be  noted  that  the  workers  are  at  least  no 
less  frequently  the  victims  than  they  are  the  practitioners  of  intimi- 
dation. (See  PICKETING;  TRADE  DISPUTES  ACT;  STRIKEBREAKING.) 

Intransigents  or  Intransigentists.  Parties,  movements,  or 
persons  which  refuse  to  be  reconciled  or  to  come  to  any  understanding 
with  the  existing  order  of  things.  The  term  is  often  used  in  designa- 
tion of  the  more  radical  members  of  the  labor  movement. 

Introduction  of  New  Processes.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  use 
this  phrase  in  designation  of  one  of  the  seven  classes  of  regulations 
which  trade  unionism  seeks  to  enforce.  These  regulations  relate  in 
the  main  to  the  subject  dealt  with  in  the  entry,  MACHINE  QUESTION, 
in  the  present  volume. 

Invalidity  Insurance.  Under  the  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  legis- 
lation in  some  countries,  a  distinction  is  made  between  "disability" 
and  "invalidity"  on  the  basis  of  whether  or  not  the  worker  is  in- 
capacitated for  a  period  of  more  than  six  months  in  the  year.  In- 
validity insurance  (also  sometimes  called  "infirmity  insurance") 
usually  provides  medical  as  well  as  cash  BENEFITS. 

[256] 


Involuntary  Servitude.  "Any  compulsory  control  by  which 
the  personal  services  of  a  human  being  are  disposed  of  or  coerced 
for  another's  benefit."  The  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion provides  that  "Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude, 
except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been 
duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction."  The  system  of  PEONAGE,  which  recent 
disclosures  would  indicate  is  common  in  certain  sections  of  the 
South,  is  of  course  a  direct  violation  of  this  amendment.  Any  sys- 
tem of  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION,  or  other  legislative  restriction  of 
the  RIGHT  TO  STRIKE,  is  regarded  by  organized  labor  as  creating  a 
condition  of  involuntary  servitude;  and  the  term  "involuntary  servi- 
tude laws"  is  often  applied  to  such  enactments  as  the  KANSAS  IN- 
DUSTRIAL COURT  act  and  the  COLORADO  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION 
LAW.  (See  LABOR  CONTRACT;  NATIVE  LABOR.) 

Irish  Labor  Party  and  Trades  Union  Congress.  The 
modern  labor  movement  in  Ireland  may  be  said  to  begin  with  the 
formation  of  the  Irish  Trades  Union  Congress  in  1894,  and  the  Irish 
Socialist  Republican  Party  (a  Marxian  organization  initiated  by 
James  Connolly;  now  the  Socialist  Party  of  Ireland)  in  1896.  The 
Trades  Union  Congress  took  on  political  functions  in  1912,  and  the 
title  of  "Irish  Labor  Party  and  Trades  Union  Congress"  was  adopted 
in  1918.  As  described  in  the  "Labor  International  Handbook," 
this  organization  "is  a  federation  of  national  and  local  trade  unions, 
TRADES  COUNCILS,  and  workers'  councils,  and  other  unions  with 
members  in  Ireland  (i.e.,  Amalgamated  Unions  with  headquarters 
in  England,  such  as  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen).  Local 
and  national  unions  account  for  about  three-fourths  of  the  affili- 
ated membership,  the  Amalgamated  Unions  for  the  remainder.  The 
total  affiliations  in  1920  were  fifty-four  Unions  and  forty  Councils. 
The  membership  ...  in  1920  exceeded  300,000,  or  practically  one- 
half  the  total  number  of  wage-earners  in  Ireland.  Of  these  150,000 
are  in  the  IRISH  TRANSPORT  AND  GENERAL  WORKERS'  UNION,  and 
100,000  more  in  two  further  unions.  Unaffiliated  to  the  Party  are 
some  40,000  organized  workers  in  the  Belfast  area  (though  the 
Belfast  Trades  Council  is  affiliated  with  15,000  members),  and  in 
this  area  a  small  number  of  ultra-imperialist  workers  are  organized, 
under  open  capitalist  patronage  in  the  Ulster  Workers'  Union  and 
the  Ulster  Unionist  Labor  Association.  The  Party  represents  the 
working  class  in  Ireland  on  both  the  political  and  the  industrial 
fields:  the  movement  is  essentially  a  mass  movement,  and  the  whole 

[257] 


affiliated  membership  acts,  on  big  issues,  as  a  single  unit  on  the  formal 
advice  of  the  National  Executive  or  of  Congress.  Its  programme 
since  1918  is  definitely  committed  to  a  Workers'  Republic,  and  it 
has  worked  closely  with  the  Republican  movement.  ...  In  industrial 
organization  the  movement  has  made  rapid  strides  toward  ONE 
BIG  UNION  with  the  object  of  'eventually  taking  over  the  control 
of  industry  by  the  organized  working  class.'  At  present  the  National 
Executive  is  engaged,  on  commission  from  Congress,  in  working  out 
a  comprehensive  plan  of  'a  single  all-inclusive  Irish  Workers'  Union,' 
constituted  of  some  ten  industrial  sections  under  the  general  direc- 
tion of  a  governing  body  or  General  Staff,  which  '  would  in  the  main 
be  appointed  by  and  from  the  several  industrial  sections.'  This  has 
been  retarded  by  the  state  of  war  of  the  last  two  or  three  years,  but 
it  is  within  measurable  distance  of  achievement." 

Irish  Transport  and  General  Workers'  Union.  Founded 
in  1909  by  James  Larkin,  as  the  nucleus  for  a  ONE  BIG  UNION 
of  Irish  workers.  According  to  the  "Labor  International  Hand- 
book," "the  long-drawn-out  struggle  in  Dublin  in  1913  that  centred 
round  this  union,  with  its  new  revolutionary  slogans  of  the  Workers' 
Republic  and  the  sympathetic  strike,  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history 
of  labor  in  these  islands.  Out  of  the  Dublin  struggle  developed  the 
revolutionism  of  recent  years,  the  establishment  of  the  Irish  Citizen 
Army — the  first  body  of  workers  to  arm  for  the  Workers'  Republic 
in  Western  Europe — and,  through  the  influence  of  James  Con- 
nolly (born  1870,  executed  while  a  wounded  prisoner  in  the  hands  of 
the  English  military,  1916),  the  friendly  understanding  between 
revolutionary  labor  and  revolutionary  Republicanism,  which  has  pre- 
sented a  common  front  against  the  world  war  and  imperialism. 
Since  1913  the  I.  T.  and  G.  W.  U.,  with  its  principles  of  militant  mass 
action,  has  dominated  the  Labor  movement  in  Ireland."  It  had  a 
membership  of  150,000  in  1920.  (See  IRISH  LABOR  PARTY  AND 
TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS.) 

Iron  Law  of  Wages  or  Subsistence  Theory.  This,  the 
earliest  economic  theory  or  explanation  of  general  WAGES,  is  based 
on  the  conception  that  in  the  long  run  wages  are  determined  by  the 
"cost  of  production"  of  labor — in  other  words,  by  the  cost  of  a  bare 
subsistence  for  the  worker  and  his  family;  that  since  population 
tends  to  increase  faster  than  the  food  supply,  the  numbers  of  the 
community  are  to  a  large  extent  held  in  check  by  a  low  rate  of  wages ; 
and  that  when  wages  are  increased  there  is  also  an  increase  of  popu- 
lation, and  the  competition  of  these  increased  numbers  for  employ- 

[258] 


ment  automatically  forces  wages  down  again  to  their  previous  level. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  laborer  should  receive  less  than  a  sub- 
sistence wage,  he  or  his  children  would  starve,  and  the  consequent 
shortage  of  laborers  would  necessarily  force  wages  back  to  the 
subsistence  point.  Thus,  according  to  this  theory,  there  can  be  no 
permanent  increase  or  decrease  in  wages  beyond  what  is  commonly 
known  as  the  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL.  Thoroughly  discredited 
and  refuted  as  it  has  long  been,  this  theory  still  exerts  a  powerful 
influence  upon  many  employers  and  public  officials.  (See  MAL- 
THUSIANISM.) 

Ironclad  Agreement  or  Ironclad  Oath.  A  form  of  contract, 
sometimes  exacted  by  an  employer  of  labor,  which  binds  an  employee 
never  to  join  a  trade  union.  An  early  form  of  the  "ironclad,"  as  it  is 
sometimes  called,  runs  as  follows:  "We  also  agree  not  to  be  engaged 
in  any  combination  whereby  the  work  may  be  impeded  or  the  com- 
pany's interest  in  any  work  injured;  if  we  do,  we  agree  to  forfeit 
to  the  use  of  the  company  the  amount  of  wages  that  may  be  due  us 
at  the  time."  (See  DOCUMENT.) 

Irritation  Strike.    See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 

Italian  Confederation  of  Workers.  See  CONFEDERAZIONE 
ITALIANA  DEI  LAVORATORI. 

Italian  Federation  of  Economic  Trade  Unions.  See  ITALIAN 
LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Italian  General  Confederation  of  Labor.  See  CONFEDER- 
AZIONE GENERALE  DEL  LAVORO. 

Italian  Labor  Movement.  For  various  reasons,  not  least  the 
misgovernment  to  which  they  have  been  so  long  subjected,  the 
Italians  have  taken  more  readily  to  the  doctrines  of  SYNDICALISM 
and  ANARCHISM  than  have  the  workers  of  any  other  country.  The 
chief  forms  of  association  among  the  local  labor  organizations 
are  represented  by  the  CAMERE  DEL  LAVORO,  or  local  chambers  of 
labor,  and  the  FEDERAZIONE  DEI  MESTIERE,  or  national  federations  of 
trades  or  industries.  Before  the  war  most  of  these  bodies  were  na- 
tionally federated  in  either  the  CONFEDERAZIONE  GENERALE  DEL 
LAVORO  or  the  UNIONE  SYNDICALE  ITALIANA,  both  of  which  pursue 
revolutionary  aims,  although  the  latter  is  the  more  radical.  In  chief 
opposition  to  these  two  organizations  stand  the  CONFEDERAZIONE 
ITALIANA  DEI  LAVORATORI,  a  national  federation  of  the  Catholic  or 
WHITE  UNIONS,  and  the  UNIONE  ITALIANA  DEL  LAVORO,  which 

[259] 


attempts  the  strange  feat  of  harmonizing  syndicalism  with  national- 
ism. In  November,  1920,  a  new  organization,  the  Italian  Federation 
of  Economic  Trade  Unions,  was  formed  at  Milan.  Its  aim  is  to 
unite  all  the  non-political  and  non-sectarian  elements  in  the  Italian 
labor  movement,  and  particularly  the  technical  and  professional 
workers,  for  purely  economic  purposes.  The  economic  exhaustion, 
disorganization,  and  impoverishment  consequent  in  general  to  the 
recent  war  have  borne  with  particular  heaviness  upon  Italy  and  her 
wage-earners.  The  period  since  the  armistice  has  been  perhaps  the 
stormiest  in  the  country's  industrial  history,  with  strikes,  lockouts, 
and  other  disturbances  occurring  with  ever-increasing  frequency. 
The  most  interesting  and  important  development  during  this  period 
has  been  the  spontaneous  rank  and  file  demand  for  WORKERS'  CON- 
TROL of  industry  which  became  prominent  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
war.  The  chief  manifestation  of  this  demand  appeared  among  the 
metal-workers  of  northern  Italy,  who  in  August  of  1920  began  a 
widespread  seizure  of  factories,  following  the  threat  of  a  lockout 
on  the  employers'  part.  Within  a  few  days  a  majority  of  the  foun- 
dries, machine  shops,  and  metal  works  of  northern  Italy  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  workers;  and  production  was  to  some  extent  carried  on 
by  them,  under  factory  committees.  The  Prime  Minister,  Giolitti, 
called  a  conference  of  representatives  of  the  C.  G.  L.  and  the  employ- 
ers by  which  an  agreement  was  reached  on  September  19,  conceding 
the  principle  of  "trade  union  control"  in  industry.  The  joint  com- 
mission established  to  work  out  the  details  of  this  scheme  broke 
down;  and  in  January,  1921,  the  government  introduced  a  Bill  for 
Labor  Control  similar  in  most  respects  to  the  GERMAN  WORKS 
COUNCILS  LAW.  (See  BOMBACCI  PLAN;  COUNCILS  OF  EXPLOITA- 
TION; SOCIETA  DI  LAVORO;  FASCISTI;  MINISTERO  PER  IL  LAVORO  E 
LA  PREVIDENZA  SOCIALE;  PROBI-VIRI.) 

Italian  Ministry  of  Labor  and  Social  Thrift.    See  MIN- 
ISTERO PER  IL  LAVORO  E  LA  PREVIDENZA  SOCIALE. 

Italian   Socialist  Party.    See   CONFEDERAZIONE   GENERALE 
DEL  LAVORO;  BOMBACCI  PLAN. 


J.  I.  C.    See  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS. 

Japanese -American  Passport  Agreement.  A  so-called  "gen- 
tlemen's agreement,"  made  in  1907  between  the  American  and 
Japanese  governments,  which  provides,  in  effect,  that  Japan  will 
not  issue  passports  good  for  continental  United  States  to  Japanese 
laborers  unless  such  laborers  are  coming  here  to  resume  a  formerly- 
acquired  domicile;  to  join  parent,  husband,  or  children;  or  to  assume 
active  control  of  an  already  possessed  interest  in  a  farming  enter- 
prise in  this  country.  While  the  agreement  relates  only  to  IMMIGRA- 
TION to  continental  United  States,  Japan  soon  voluntarily  extended 
the  same  provisions  to  Hawaii.  Non-laborers,  of  course,  are  not 
affected,  and  are  free  to  come  and  go  under  the  same  conditions  as 
aliens  of  other  nationalities.  (See  PICTURE  BRIDES.) 

Japanese  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  See  JAPANESE 
LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Japanese  Labor  Organizations.  As  in  the  case  of  China, 
the  only  form  of  labor  organization  in  Japan  until  late  in  the  last 
century  consisted  in  the  primitive  guilds.  These  exist  in  large 
numbers  under  the  leadership  of  "bosses"  who  frequently  act  as 
foremen  and  also  serve  in  the  capacity  of  private  employment  agents. 
Isolated  labor  unions  somewhat  approaching  the  western  type  began 
to  appear  in  the  nineties.  Owing  to  police  persecution  most  of  them 
had,  however,  disappeared  by  1900.  In  1912  a  workers'  society  called 
the  Yuai  Kai  was  founded ;  and  a  fraternal  society  of  printers,  known 
as  the  Shinyu  Kai,  appeared  in  1917.  During  this  latter  year  the 
high  cost  of  living  attendant  on  war-time  prosperity  produced  a 
series  of  strikes,  and  the  Yuai  Kai  and  the  Shinyu  Kai  developed  into 
industrially  active  organizations.  The  rice  riots  of  1918,  with  their 
widespread  conflicts  with  the  troops,  stimulated  class  consciousness 
among  the  workers,  and  the  early  part  of  1919  saw  a  rapid  growth  in 
strikes  and  organization.  By  the  end  of  1919  a  slump  followed;  and 
in  1920,  to  achieve  unity,  the  twelve  leading  unions  of  Tokyo  and  its 
outlying  districts  (including  the  Yuai  Kai,  now  organized  on  indus- 
18  [ 261  ] 


trial  lines,  with  several  departments,  including  metal,  transport, 
mining,  textile  and  other  workers,  and  1 50  branches,  with  a  member- 
ship of  30,000)  united  in  a  loose  federation  to  form  the  Japanese 
Federation  of  Trade  Unions;  and  fifteen  unions  of  Osaka  and  its  out- 
lying districts  formed  the  Federation  of  Trade  Unions  of  Western 
Japan.  A  report  made  by  R.  Soeda  of  the  KYOCHO  KAI,  in  January, 
1921,  states  that  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  now  more  than  300 
trade  unions  in  the  country,  nearly  all  of  them  being  organized  dur- 
ing 1919.  The  weaknesses  of  the  trade  unions,  he  states,  lie  in  their 
poor  financial  status;  the  lack  of  a  definite  programme  caused  by 
extreme  mobility  of  labor,  which  is  constantly  passing  from  factory 
to  factory  and  from  one  occupation  to  another;  the  lack  of  soli- 
darity, which  shows  in  the  small  remuneration  of  trade  union  officers 
and  the  constant  dissolution  of  trade  unions  when  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  a  union  are  dismissed  from  a  factory  following  a  labor  dis- 
pute; lack  of  confidence  in  trade  union  leaders,  and  the  hereditary 
attitude  of  loyalty  and  devotion  among  the  laboring  classes  toward 
those  who  employ  them. 

Job  Analysis.  A  systematic  inquiry,  on  the  part  of  large  indus- 
trial and  commercial  concerns,  into  the  component  elements  of  each 
individual  job  in  their  establishments,  and  the  human  qualifications 
and  physical  conditions  necessary  for  its  performance;  the  resulting 
data  being  used  as  a  basis  for  proper  placement  of,  and  compensa- 
tion to,  the  worker.  This  plan  has  been  especially  successful  in 
decreasing  LABOR  TURNOVER  and  increasing  output.  (See  EMPLOY- 
MENT MANAGEMENT.) 

Job  Monopoly.  A  term  commonly  used  in  designation  of 
the  purpose  or  policy  of  a  CLOSED  UNION — one  that  seeks  to  secure 
a  monopoly  of  work  for  its  own  members  in  the  particular  craft  or 
occupation  which  they  follow.  "Job  monopoly"  is  commonly  ac- 
complished by  means  of  EXCLUSIVE  AGREEMENTS  with  employers' 
associations,  by  restricting  membership  in  the  trade  union,  and  by 
other  methods.  (See  MONOPOLY  POLICY  OF  TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

Job  Piece  Work.    See  COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK. 

Job  Selling.  The  practice  on  the  part  of  certain  foremen  or 
superintendents  of  levying  tribute  from  those  to  whom  they  give 
employment.  Such  tribute  is  sometimes  exacted  not  only  at  the 
time  a  job  is  provided,  but  also  at  regular  intervals  as  long  as  the 
job  is  retained.  This  practice  is  legally  forbidden  in  several  states 
of  the  American  union.  (See  STRAW  Boss;  TOLLING.) 

[262] 


Job  Work.  In  a  general  sense,  work  that  is  paid  for  in  a 
lump  stun  agreed  upon  in  advance,  instead  of  on  the  usual  TIME 
WORK  or  PIECE  WORK  basis.  Practically  all  forms  of  the  CONTRACT 
SYSTEM  come  within  the  category  of  job  work. 

Jobber.    See  PIECE  MASTER;  STEVEDORE  SYSTEM. 
Joint  Agreement.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Joint  Board,  Trades  Union  Congress.  See  TRADES  UNION 
CONGRESS. 

Joint  Committee.  Usually  a  committee  made  up  of  repre- 
sentatives of  both  the  employing  and  the  working  class.  Sometimes, 
however,  a  committee  comprising  representatives  of  two  or  more 
trade  unions,  or  two  or  more  groups  of  employers.  (See  BRIDGEPORT 
PLAN.) 

Joint  Conference  Council.    See  COMPANY  COUNCIL. 

Joint  Conference  System.  This  term  is  ordinarily  applied 
to  the  more  formal  plan  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING — commonly 
found  in  trades  or  industries  where  both  employers  and  employees 
are  strongly  organized — which  involves  more  or  less  regularly  recur- 
rent and  systematically  conducted  conferences  between  represen- 
tatives of  the  two  sides.  In  the  American  workings  of  this  system 
there  is  as  a  rule  no  written  constitution  or  permanent  treaty  be- 
tween the  organizations  of  employers  and  employees,  establishing  a 
definite  organization  and  method  of  procedure  for  the  conferences 
by  which  the  general  agreements  are  adopted,  or  for  boards  of 
ARBITRATION  and  CONCILIATION.  "On  the  other  hand,  the  separate 
constitutions  and  rules  of  the  organizations  of  employers,  and  more 
particularly  those  of  the  organizations  of  employees,  do  provide  more 
or  less  formally  for  the  maintenance  of  the  system,  usually  prescrib- 
ing methods  for  the  selection  of  conference  committees  and  regulating 
their  methods  of  procedure  in  a  general  way,  although  much  is  still 
left  to  unwritten  custom.  Even  in  the  absence  of  any  written 
joint  rules  of  a  permanent  character,  custom  has  usually  introduced 
fairly  permanent  and  uniform  practices  of  collective  bargaining. 
There  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  misunderstandings  would 
in  some  cases  be  avoided,  and  the  continuance  of  the  system  would 
be  more  fully  guaranteed,  if  the  practice,  so  common  in  England, 
of  adopting  formal  constitutions  and  rules  for  joint  committees 
and  conferences  should  be  introduced  here.  In  order  to  appreciate 
the  significance  of  the  practices  of  these  various  trades  as  regards 

[263] 


the  organization  and  methods  of  procedure  of  joint  conferences, 
it  is  necessary  to  hold  clearly  in  mind  the  fundamental  nature  of  the 
task  which  these  conferences  set  for  themselves.  They  are  not  boards 
of  arbitration  or  conciliation.  It  is  not  their  function  to  act  judicially 
in  the  interpretation  of  existing  rules  and  practices,  nor  by  concili- 
atory methods  to  bring  about  an  agreement  as  to  minor  and  local 
matters.  They  meet  for  the  purpose  of  bargaining  collectively 
regarding  the  general  conditions  on  which  labor  shall  be  performed 
throughout  the  trade.  Their  work  is  in  a  sense  to  be  considered 
legislation.  More  strictly  speaking,  it  is  simply  negotiation  between 
two  parties,  through  their  representatives,  for  the  formation  of  a 
contract.  It  is  because  of  this  very  nature  of  the  collective  bargaining 
process  that  we  find  the  following  facts  holding  true  as  regards  most 
of  the  important  national  systems  in  the  United  States,  though 
there  are  exceptions  to  each  of  the  statements:  (i)  It  is  not  required 
that  the  representatives  of  the  respective  parties  shall  be  equal  in 
number;  (2)  action  is  taken  by  compromise  leading  to  unanimous 
agreement  rather  than  by  majority  vote;  (3)  persons  outside  the 
trade  are  not  called  in  to  decide  authoritatively  general  questions 
as  to  which  the  parties  can  not  agree;  (4)  the  number  of  conferees 
is  usually  quite  large,  although  part  of  the  more  detailed  work  of 
reaching  an  agreement  is  often  referred  to  smaller  committees." 
(For  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  joint  conference  system  as 
developed  in  two  representative  American  industries,  see  INTERSTATE 
JOINT  CONFERENCES  IN  THE  COAL-MINING  INDUSTRY  and  JOINT 
CONFERENCE  SYSTEM  IN  THE  RAILWAY  INDUSTRY.  See  also,  AGREE- 
MENT SYSTEM.) 

Joint  Conference  System  in  the  Railway  Industry.     The 

methods  of  negotiating  with  employers  which  are  followed  by  the 
four  principal  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS  are  in  the  main  very  similar. 
Most  of  the  railway  companies  recognize  these  bodies  and  deal  with 
their  officers.  "In  no  case  is  there  any  formal  system  of  joint  boards 
of  employers  and  employees,  with  equal  representation,  and  with 
definite  constitution  and  rules.  Nevertheless,  on  most  railway  sys- 
tems frequent  conferences  are  held  between  officers  of  the  brother- 
hoods and  those  of  the  railways.  By  these  conferences,  not  merely 
minor  disputes  are  settled,  but  to  a  large  extent  the  general  conditions 
of  labor  are  determined.  The  officers  of  the  brotherhoods  are  in 
most  instances  men  of  no  little  ability  and  of  long  experience  in  negoti- 
ations with  employers.  If  local  officers  fail  to  reach  settlements, 
appeal  is  usually  made  to  the  national  officers,  who  are  especially 

[264] 


experienced  and  conservative.  The  result  is  that  disputes  seldom 
fail  of  settlement  and  that  strikes  of  the  more  skilled  classes  of  railway 
employees  are  comparatively  rare.  .  .  In  general,  with  some  modifi- 
cations in  details,  the  system  is  as  follows:  Each  local  LODGE  or 
DIVISION  of  a  brotherhood  has  a  loca.1  GRIEVANCE  COMMITTEE  of  three 
or  more  members.  For  each  railway  line  a  general  committee  or 
general  board  of  adjustment  is  established,  composed  of  one  or 
more  delegates  from  each  local  division  on  the  line.  In  the  case  of 
great  composite  systems  of  railroads,  some  of  the  brotherhoods 
provide  also  for  a  still  higher  committee  of  adjustment,  composed 
of  the  chairman  of  each  of  the  committees  on  the  separate  lines  or 
branches  of  the  system.  These  chairmen  of  general  committees  of 
adjustment  are  in  many  instances  salaried  officers,  devoting  their 
whole  time  to  the  interests  of  the  members  employed  on  the  railway. 
It  is  their  duty,  in  conjunction  with  local  committees,  to  adjust,  if 
possible,  all  differences  of  a  local  character  that  may  arise.  Failing 
to  reach  a  settlement  in  this  way  a  meeting  of  the  general  committee 
of  adjustment  is  called  and  it  proceeds  to  negotiate  with  the  higher 
officers  of  the  railway  companies.  The  action  of  such  a  general  com- 
mittee of  adjustment  is  binding  upon  all  members  employed  upon 
the  railway  line  (unless  reversed,  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  organiza- 
tions, by  referendum  vote  of  the  members  so  employed).  On  occasion 
of  special  need  the  national  officers  of  the  brotherhood  are  called 
in  to  negotiate  with  employers.  The  general  conditions  of  labor  are 
usually  determined  from  time  to  time  by  conferences  between  these 
general  committees  of  adjustment  and  the  officers  of  the  railway 
company,  or  in  the  case  of  the  more  extensive  systems,  between 
the  higher  committees  above  referred  to  and  the  officers  of  the  sys- 
tem." (See  JOINT  CONFERENCE  SYSTEM.) 

Joint  Council.  As  commonly  used  in  connection  with  Amer- 
ican trade  unionism,  this  term  denotes  a  delegate  body  composed 
of  representatives  of  local  unions  in  a  single  trade  or  several  allied 
trades  for  a  single  large  city,  for  two  or  more  cities  in  close  proximity, 
or  for  some  other  limited  geographical  area.  The  primary  functions 
of  such  bodies  are  the  maintenance  of  uniform  conditions  of  employ- 
ment, and  control  over  the  declaration  and  conduct  of  strikes.  Very 
few  of  them  perform  any  definite  administrative  or  judicial  duties. 
In  some  national  unions,  the  joint  council  is  differentiated  from  the 
DISTRICT  UNION,  having  a  more  limited  jurisdiction  than  the  latter; 
in  others  the  joint  council,  usually  limited  in  jurisdiction  to  a  single 
city,  is  the  only  form  of  representative  body  for  joint  action.  (See 
TRADES  COUNCIL — AMERICAN;  DISTRICT  COUNCIL.) 

[265] 


'jf/MDA 


I  I 


Joint  Industrial  Councils.  The  general  name  given  to  the 
various  works,  district,  and  national  bodies  set  up  in  British  industry 
to  carry  into  effect  the  proposals  of  the  WHITLEY  PLAN,  which  have 
been  approved  by  the  government.  They  are  established  only  in 
industries  in  which  both  emplqyers  and  workers  are  well  organ- 
ized in  their  respective  associations,  and  they  consist  of  equal  num- 
bers of  representatives  of  employers'  associations  and  trade  unions. 
Their  general  function  is  to  secure  the  largest  possible  measure  of 
joint  action  between  employers  and  workers  for  the  development  of 
the  industry  which  they  represent,  as  a  part  of  national  life,  and  for 
the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  all  engaged  in  the  industry; 
and  it  is  open  to  the  councils  to  take  any  action  that  falls  within 
the  scope  of  this  general  definition.  "Among  their  more  specific 
objects  may  be  mentioned  the  regular  consideration  of  wages,  hours, 
and  working  conditions  in  the  industry  as  a  whole;  the  consideration 
of  measures  for  regularizing  production  and  employment;  the  con- 
sideration of  the  existing  machinery,  and  the  establishment  of  ma- 
chinery where  it  does  not  already  exist,  for  the  settlement  of  differ- 
ences between  different  parties  and  sections  in  the  industry  with  the 
object  of  securing  the  speedy  settlement  of  difficulties;  the  collec- 
tion of  statistics  and  information  on  matters  pertaining  to  the  in- 
dustry; the  encouragement  of  the  study  of  processes  and  design  and 
of  research,  with  a  view  to  perfecting  the  products  of  the  industry; 
the  improvement  of  the  health  conditions  obtaining  in  the  industry 
and  the  provision  of  special  treatment  where  necessary  for  workers 
in  the  industry;  the  consideration  of  the  proposals  for  district  councils 
and  WORKS  COMMITTEES,  put  forward  in  the  Whitley  report,  having 
regard  in  each  case  to  any  such  organizations  as  may  already  be  in 
existence;  and  cooperation  with  the  joint  industrial  councils  for 
other  industries  to  deal  with  problems  of  common  interest.  The 
Ministry  of  Labor  is  the  department  responsible  for  assisting  indus- 
tries in  the  setting  up  of  these  councils."  The  joint  industrial  coun- 
cils are  commonly  referred  to  under  the  initials,  "J.  I.  C."  (See 
INTERIM  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION  COMMITTEES;  TRADE  PAR- 
LIAMENT; INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL.) 

Joint  Label.  A  UNION  LABEL  placed  on  a  product  in  the 
making  of  which  several  allied  trades  or  crafts,  each  nationally  and 
separately  organized,  have  participated.  (See  ALLIED  PRINTING 
TRADES  COUNCILS;  METAL  TRADES  COUNCILS.) 

Joint  Legislative  Board.    See  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS. 
Joint  Plant  Council.     See  COMPANY  COUNCIL. 

[266] 


Joint  Shop  Committee,  (i)  A  SHOP  COMMITTEE  representa- 
tive of  both  employees  and  management  in  a  single  industrial  estab- 
lishment or  one  department  of  an  establishment.  (2)  A  body  con- 
sisting of  all  the  SHOP  CHAIRMEN  of  a  single  establishment.  (3)  A 
committee  made  up  of  employers'  representatives  and  all  the  shop 
chairmen  in  a  single  establishment.  (See  SHOP  COUNCIL;  EMPLOYEE 
REPRESENTATION.) 

Joint  Standing  Industrial  Councils.  See  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL 
COUNCILS. 

Joint  Strike  Committee.     See  STRIKE  COMMITTEE. 

Journeyman.  Meaning  literally  a  day  worker,  this  term  was 
used  in  the  time  of  the  medieval  GUILDS  in  designation  of  a  crafts- 
man who  had  served  his  APPRENTICESHIP  and  had  not  yet  become  a 
master.  It  now  denotes  a  fully  qualified  worker  at  any  trade — one 
who,  if  a  trade  unionist,  has  successfully  passed  the  examination 
or  requirements  for  entrance  to  the  union.  (See  FULL  WORKER; 
PRACTICAL  MAN.) 

Judiciary  Committee.  See  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — 
LOCAL. 

Jugo-Slavia  Central  Trade  Union  Council.  See  CENTRALNO 
RADNITCHKO  SINDIKALNO  VETCHE. 

Jungle.  Any  LABOR  CAMP,  especially  one  in  a  remote  and 
undeveloped  region,  is  commonly  known  among  migratory  workers 
as  a  "jungle." 

Junta.  A  name  given  to  the  group  of  British  trade  union 
leaders  who,  working  together  in  close  association  as  a  committee 
of  amalgamated  societies,  directed  and  controlled  British  trade 
unionism  from  about  1850  to  1875,  Sin^  really  laid  the  lasting  founda- 
tions of  the  movement.  The  principal  members  of  the  Junta  were 
William  Allen,  Robert  Applegarth,  Daniel  Guile,  Edwin  Coulson, 
and  George  Odger. 

Jurisdiction.  In  connection  with  labor  affairs,  this  term 
denotes  the  "right"  of  a  labor  organization,  as  against  other  labor 
organizations,  to  either  (i)  the  exclusive  handling  of  certain  kinds 
of  work,  material,  tools,  machinery,  etc.;  or  (2)  the  exclusive  alle- 
giance of  workers  at  a  particular  trade  or  occupation;  or  (3)  the  ex- 
clusive control  of  workers  within  a  certain  geographical  area — local, 
district,  or  national.  The  effort  to  enforce  this  actual  or  asserted 

[267] 


right  frequently  leads  to  bitter  conflict  between  one  organization 
and  another.  This  form  of  conflict,  known  as  a  "  jurisdictional 
dispute,"  is  indeed  the  most  prolific,  costly,  and  demoralizing  source 
of  internal  friction  in  the  organized  labor  movement.  It  is  in  con- 
nection with  the  conflicting  claims  in  regard  to  the  handling  of  certain 
kinds  of  work,  materials,  etc.,  that  trouble  most  frequently  arises. 
This  class  of  conflicts  (called  in  England  "demarcation  disputes") 
may  be  exemplified  by  the  question  arising  between  bridge  and  struc- 
tural iron  workers,  on  the  one  hand,  and  plumbers  and  steam  fitters, 
on  the  other,  as  to  which  class  of  workers  should  install  threaded 
pipe  used  for  hand  railings;  or  between  carpenters  and  plumbers  as 
to  which  should  bore  the  floor-holes  for  piping;  or  between  printers 
and  machinists  as  to  which  should  operate  type-setting  machines. 
Sometimes  the  question  even  involves  an  entire  trade  or  craft,  the 
whole  field  of  which  is  claimed  by  rival  unions.  All  of  these  disputes 
derive  their  interest  to  employers  and  the  public  from  the  fact  that 
the  opposing  unions  so  often  back  their  contentions  with  the  strike. 
"It  seems  intolerable  that  an  employer,  who  is  ready  to  pay  the  wages 
and  to  comply  with  all  the  conditions  asked  for  by  his  workmen, 
should  find  his  work  stopped  because  two  sections  of  the  workmen 
can  not  agree  between  themselves  about  the  boundaries  of  their 
fields  of  work.  The  workingmen  themselves  seem  to  lose  as  much 
by  such  stoppages  as  the  masters,  and  they  seem  to  have  no  more 
to  gain.  The  most  obvious  motive  of  the  disputants  in  such  cases 
is  the  motive  which  determines  so  large  a  part  of  trade  union  policy 
—the  desire  to  get  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  work  to  do.  The 
field  of  work  is  conceived  as  divided  on  some  basis  of  established 
custom,  among  the  several  groups  of  workers.  Each  group  has  a 
sense  of  proprietorship  in  that  which  it  has  occupied.  There  is  a 
disputed  land  around  its  borders,  which  it  feels  to  be  its  property, 
but  which  is  claimed,  with  equal  conviction,  by  the  neighboring 
groups.  The  selfishness  of  each  group  suffers  from  the  operations 
of  the  others  within  this  disputed  tract;  but  its  sense  of  justice  is 
outraged  also.  The  question  of  the  boundary  becomes  a  question 
of  pride  and  a  question  of  principle;  and  it  is  fought  over  with  an 
eagerness  which  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  intrinsic  importance 
of  the  dispute.  But  there  is  another  aspect  of  such  questions,  which 
makes  them  important  to  workingmen  as  a  whole,  and  which  may 
sometimes  entitle  one  of  the  disputants  to  consider  that  it  represents 
the  interest  of  the  working  class.  If  the  employer  is  permitted,  at 
his  pleasure,  to  choose  which  of  two  unions  shall  do  a  given  work, 
the  effect  is  the  same  in  land  as  if  he  were  permitted  to  revert  to  the 

[268] 


individual  bargain.  The  work  of  the  higher-paid  unions  may  be 
handed  over,  little  by  little,  to  the  lower  paid.  The  higher  standard 
may  be  nominally  maintained,  but  its  field  of  application  is  gradually 
narrowed;  and,  taking  the  employment  as  a  whole,  there  is  an  in- 
sidious and  unacknowledged  lowering  of  the  STANDARD  RATE." 
Jurisdictional  disputes  concerning  the  allegiance  of  workers  in  a 
particular  trade  or  occupation  usually  occur  between  a  CRAFT  UNION 
on  the  one  hand  and  an  INDUSTRIAL  UNION  on  the  other — as  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  struggle  between  the  national  teamsters'  organization 
and  the  United  Brewery  Workers  for  "jurisdiction"  over  teamsters 
employed  by  the  breweries.  Conflicts  in  connection  with  the  claim 
of  exclusive  control  over  a  certain  geographical  area  (usually  known 
as  territorial  or  geographical  jurisdiction)  may  be  exemplified  by 
the  long  contest  between  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  and  the 
United  Mine  Workers  for  control  over  the  western  mining  districts. 
Jurisdictional  disputes  of  all  three  types  have  been  alleviated  to  some 
extent  by  the  organization  of  local  unions  into  national  unions;  by 
the  AMALGAMATION  of  rival  national  unions  into  a  single  national 
body;  and  by  the  AFFILIATION  of  local  unions  with  TRADE  COUNCILS 
and  of  national  unions  with  a  strong  national  federation.  But  as 
yet  no  permanently  successful  solution  of  the  problem  has  been  dis- 
covered. (See  OVERLAP;  DEMARCATION;  RIGHT  TO  THE  TRADE; 
VESTED  INTERESTS  DOCTRINE;  SECTIONALISM;  DUAL  UNION;  EN- 
CROACHMENT; LABEL  JURISDICTION;  JURISDICTIONAL  AGREEMENT.) 

Jurisdiction  Members.    See  MEMBERS  AT  LARGE. 

Jurisdictional  Agreement.  A  formal  understanding  between 
two  or  more  trade  unions  in  regard  to  the  specific  authority  of  each 
over  certain  kinds  of  work,  certain  workers,  or  certain  geographical 
areas.  A  Jurisdictional  agreement  marks  the  settlement  of  a  conflict 
over  JURISDICTION  between  the  unions  which  are  parties  to  the 
agreement. 

Jurisdictional  Disputes.    See  JURISDICTION;  OVERLAP. 


K 


Kamers  van  Arbeid.  Dutch  chambers  of  labor  or  INDUSTRIAL 
COUNCILS,  consisting  of  equi-partisan  bodies  of  employers  and  em- 
ployees representing  their  respective  interests  within  a  trade  or 
locality.  They  are  under  the  supervision  of,  and  report  to,  the  na- 
tional department  of  labor.  These  councils  concern  themselves 
with  questions  of  wages  and  hours  and  other  conditions  of  employ- 
ment, make  recommendations  to  the  authorities  respecting  legisla- 
tion, and  adjust  industrial  disputes. 

Kamgar  Hitwardhak  Sab  ha  (Workingmen's  Welfare  Associa- 
tion). See  INDIA,  LABOR  ORGANISATION  IN. 

Kansas  Industrial  Court.  Under  a  law  passed  early  in  1920, 
the  state  legislature  of  Kansas  has  set  up  a  "Court  of  Industrial 
Relations,"  with  compulsory  powers  of  supervision  and  ARBITRATION 
in  a  number  of  industries  declared  to  be  affected  "with  a  public  in- 
terest." The  Court  is  composed  of  three  judges,  appointed  by  the 
Governor.  Ordinary  rules  of  evidence  govern  its  procedure,  and  the 
decisions  arrived  at  are  fully  mandatory.  Those  industries  over  which 
the  Court  exercises  jurisdiction  are  specified  as  follows:  "(i)  The 
manufacture  or  preparation  of  food  products  whereby,  in  any  stage 
of  the  process,  substances  are  being  converted,  either  partially  or 
wholly,  from  their  natural  state  to  a  condition  to  be  used  as  food  for 
human  beings;  (2)  the  manufacture  of  clothing  and  all  manner  of 
wearing  apparel  in  common  use  by  the  people  of  this  state  whereby, 
in  any  stage  of  the  process,  natural  products  are  being  converted, 
either  partially  or  wholly,  from  their  natural  state  to  a  condition 
to  be  used  as  such  clothing  and  wearing  apparel;  (3)  the  mining  or 
production  of  any  substance  or  material  in  common  use  as  fuel  for 
domestic,  manufacturing,  or  transportation  purposes;  (4)  the  trans- 
portation of  all  food  products  and  articles  or  substances  entering  into 
wearing  apparel,  or  fuel  as  aforesaid,  from  the  place  where  produced 
to  the  place  of  manufacture  or  consumption;  (5)  all  public  utilities." 
Strikes  in  these  industries  are  permanently  forbidden;  any  dispute 
arising  between  employers  and  workmen  must  be  referred  to  the 

[270] 


Court  for  investigation  and  decision;  and  the  Court  has  power  to 
order  "such  changes,  if  any,  as  are  necessary  to  be  made  in  and  about 
the  conduct  of  said  industry,  employment,  utility  or  common  car- 
rier, in  the  matters  of  working  and  living  conditions,  hours  of  labor, 
rules  and  practices,  and  a  reasonable  MINIMUM  WAGE,  or  standard  of 
wages."  Violations  of  the  orders  of  the  Court  or  the  provisions  of 
the  act  creating  it  are  considered  misdemeanors;  while  any  person 
intentionally  influencing  another  to  violate  such  orders  or  provisions 
is  considered  guilty  of  a  felony.  In  either  case  heavy  punishments 
by  fine  or  imprisonment  or  both  are  provided.  The  act  provides  that 
"all  incidental  powers  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions 
of  this  act  are  hereby  expressly  granted  to  and  conferred  upon  said 
Court  of  Industrial  Relations."  Needless  to  say,  the  act  has  aroused 
the  bitter  hostility  of  organized  labor  within  and  without  the  state 
of  Kansas,  as  destroying  the  right  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  and 
creating  what  labor  regards  as  a  condition  of  INVOLUNTARY  SERVI- 
TUDE. (See  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION.) 

Katheder  Sozialister.    See  SOCIALISTS  OF  THE  CHAIR. 

Keating-Owen  Bill.  A  Congressional  enactment  of  1916, 
prohibiting  the  transportation  in  interstate  commerce  of  the  products 
of  factories  in  which  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  had  been 
employed,  or  in  which  children  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  had 
worked  more  than  eight  hours  a  day  or  six  days  a  week  or  at  night. 
The  same  prohibition  was  applied  to  the  products  of  mines  em- 
ploying children  under  sixteen.  The  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
in  June,  1918,  declared  this  act  unconstitutional,  as  an  unwarranted 
extension  of  the  Federal  power  to  regulate  interstate  commerce. 
As  a  result,  Congress  shifted  the  basis  of  its  interference  to  the 
taxing  power,  and  embodied  provisions  in  the  Revenue  Act  of  1919 
levying  a  special  tax  of  ten  per  cent  on  the  net  profits  of  employers 
of  CHILD  LABOR  under  certain  conditions.  (See  CHILD  LABOR  TAX.) 

Kindred  Craft  Union.     See  CRAFT  UNION. 

Knights  of  Labor.  A  national  organization  of  labor  in  the 
United  States  founded  in  1869,  under  the  leadership  of  Uriah  S. 
Stevens.  In  1871  the  title  of  "Noble  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor" 
was  adopted  by  the  society.  Membership  was  at  first  limited  to 
tailors.  Soon,  however,  those  in  other  trades  were  admitted  as 
associate  members,  and  were  later  permitted  to  organize  separate 
branches  or  "assemblies  "  in  their  respective  trades.  With  the  forma- 
tion of  these  new  branches  the  parent  body  was  designated  "Assem- 

[271] 


bly  No.  i,"  and  the  assemblies  later  organized  were  numbered 
serially.  The  need  of  some  central  or  uniting  authority  led  to  the 
establishment  of  a  "Committee  on  the  Good  of  the  Order,"  con- 
sisting of  three  members  from  each  assembly.  In  1873  this  temporary 
committee  was  superseded  by  a  delegate  body  known  as  the  Dis- 
trict Assembly.  As  the  local  assemblies  increased,  other  district 
assemblies  were  organized.  The  parent  assembly,  of  which  Stevens 
was  the  "Master  Workman,"  together  with  several  of  the  earlier 
branches,  constituted  "District  Assembly  No.  i,"  with  Stevens  at 
its  head.  The  subsequent  increase  of  district  assemblies  led  to  the 
establishment  in  1878  of  a  national  "General  Assembly,"  made  up 
of  delegates  from  seven  states  and  representative  of  fifteen  trades. 
Stevens  was  placed  at  the  head  of  this  national  body,  with  the  title 
of  "Grand  Master  Workman."  Conventions  were  held  annually 
thereafter.  In  1886  the  membership  of  the  Order  had  risen  to  700,000, 
but  soon  thereafter  it  began  to  decline  in  competition  with  the  new 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  until  today  but  little  remains  of 
the  organization.  The  society  was  not  organized  on  the  autonomous 
trade  union  or  CRAFT  UNION  basis,  but  admitted  all  workers — skilled 
and  unskilled,  men  and  women,  white  and  black — without  distinc- 
tions of  trade  or  craft.  Until  1881  it  was  conducted  as  a  secret 
order,  with  an  elaborate  veil  of  ritual,  sign,  grip,  and  password, 
designed  to  keep  out  spies.  Its  affairs  were  controlled  by  a  highly 
centralized  authority.  It  took  a  large  part  in  politics,  and  in  cooper- 
ative production  and  consumption.  (See  TRADE  UNION  COOPERA- 
TION.) 

Knights  of  St.  Crispin.  A  secret  organization  of  shoe- 
makers (1867-1873)  which  was  at  one  time  the  most  powerful  labor 
body  in  the  United  States,  having  some  40,000  members. 

Knobstick.    See  BLACKLEG. 

Knox  Strike.    See  ONE-MAN  STRIKE. 

Krankenkassen.    See  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES. 

Kustars  or  Kustarniki.  In  Russia,  persons  engaged  in 
HOME  WORK  are  so  called.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  Russian 
peasantry  are  of  this  class.  They  are  regarded  by  the  Soviet  govern- 
ment as  small  proprietors,  and  are  subject  to  State  control  in  various 
ways.  (See  COTTAGE  INDUSTRY.) 

Ky o  c  ho  K  ai  (Harmonizing  Society) .  At  a  meeting  of  prominent 
Japanese  government  officials  held  at  Tokyo  in  January,  1919,  it 

[272] 


was  decided  that  a  national  organization  should  be  formed  having 
as  its  main  object  the  creation  of  amicable  relations  between  "capi- 
tal" and  "labor,"  and  capable  of  carrying  out  the  following  duties: 
(i)  The  education  of  labor,  to  be  effected  by  means  of  the  publica- 
tion of  newspapers  and  magazines,  the  arrangement  of  lectures,  etc., 
with  the  object  of  raising  the  intellectual  standard;  (2)  the  investiga- 
tion of  labor  conditions  and  the  study  of  labor  questions  at  home  and 
abroad  likely  to  contribute  toward  the  solution  of  the  labor  problem; 
(3)  the  management  of  a  Central  Employment  Bureau,  and  the  en- 
couragement of  activities  of  employment  bureaus  in  the  various 
districts;  (4)  the  establishment  of  an  internal  organization  to  deal 
with  the  settlement  of  labor  disputes;  (5)  the  establishment  of 
branches  of  the  organization  in  several  of  the  larger  cities  in  the 
country,  to  take  charge  of  such  questions  as  the  protection  and  as- 
sistance of  workers,  the  education  of  their  children,  and  the  finding 
of  housing  accommodations.  In  accordance  with  this  plan,  a  fund 
of  six  million  yen  was  raised  and  the  new  society,  called  the  Kyocho 
Kai,  or  "harmonizing  society,"  was  definitely  launched  in  Dec- 
ember, 1919.  Owing  to  its  close  alliance  with  capitalist  interests,  the 
society  soon  fell  into  disfavor  with  the  working  classes.  It  was  recon- 
structed on  a  more  popular  basis  toward  the  end  of  1920. 


La  Follette  Seamen's  Act.     See  SEAMEN'S  ACT. 

Label  Administration.  In  trade  unions  using  the  UNION 
LABEL,  the  determining  of  conditions  tinder  which  the  label  shall 
be  granted  and  the  defining  of  methods  for  issuing  the  label  are 
usually  functions  of  the  national  rather  than  of  local  officers.  It  is 
important  to  create  and  enforce  uniform  conditions,  to  prevent  the 
unauthorized  use  of  labels,  and  to  see  that  manufacturers  having 
LABEL  AGREEMENTS  are  duly  protected.  Sometimes  these  matters 
are  entrusted  to  the  president  of  the  national  body,  sometimes  to 
the  secretary  or  secretary-treasurer.  At  least  one  union  has  a  na- 
tional official  known  as  the  "label  holder,"  who  keeps  the  labels 
under  lock  and  key  and  gives  them  as  needed  to  the  national  secre- 
tary, who  in  turn  distributes  them  to  the  local  unions.  The  local 
administration  of  the  label  is  vested  in  the  officers  either  of  the 
DISTRICT  COUNCIL  or  of  the  local  unions.  Where  more  than  one 
local  of  a  national  union  is  chartered  in  any  locality,  the  "joint 
councils"  of  representatives  from  such  locals  administer  the  label 
for  that  locality.  In  certain  unions  where  the  label  is  of  particular 
importance,  the  locals  have  special  officers  known  as  "label  cus- 
todians" or  "label  secretaries"  for  the  performance  of  this  duty. 
In  others  the  task  is  delegated  to  a  local  "label  committee."  The 
administration  of  the  label  in  the  individual  shop  is  usually  entrusted 
to  the  regular  SHOP  STEWARD,  although  sometimes  a  special  "label 
steward"  is  appointed  for  this  specific  purpose. 

Label  Advertiser.    See  LABEL  AGITATOR. 

Label  Agitator.  The  work  of  extending  the  use  of  the  UNION 
LABEL  and  of  creating  a  demand  among  trade  unionists  for  LABEL 
GOODS  is  ordinarily  a  function  of  local  unions.  In  some  cases,  how- 
ever, this  task  is  delegated  to  the  national  union,  and  is  either  part  of 
the  functions  of  the  national  ORGANIZERS  or  is  entrusted  to  special 
officials  known  as  "label  agitators"  or  "label  advertisers,"  who  travel 
about  the  country  working  among  local  unions  and  speaking  in 

[274] 


behalf  of  the  label  before  groups  of  trade  unionists.     (See  DEPUTY 
SYSTEM.) 

Label  Agreement  or  Label  Contract.  In  those  trades  which 
use  the  UNION  LABEL,  it  is  customary  for  local  trade  unions  to  make 
formal  compacts  with  individual  employers  setting  forth  the  terms 
and  conditions  under  which  the  label  is  to  be  used.  In  return  for  the 
privilege  of  using  the  label,  the  employer  ordinarily  agrees  to  hire 
only  union  labor  and  to  submit  all  disputes  to  ARBITRATION.  The 
union  commonly  agrees  not  to  sanction  any  strike,  and  to  assist 
the  employer  in  procuring  competent  workers  in  the  place  of  any 
who  may  insist  upon  striking;  while  the  employer  agrees  not  to  lock 
out  his  workers.  (See  LABEL  SHOP.) 

Label  Committee.    See  LABEL  ADMINISTRATION. 
Label  Contract.     See  LABEL  AGREEMENT. 
Label  Custodian.    See  LABEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

Label  Goods  or  Label  Products.  Goods  or  products  bearing 
the  UNION  LABEL  are  thus  designated  by  trade  unionists.  (See  LABEL 
JURISDICTION;  LABEL  TRADES.) 

Label  Holder.    See  LABEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

Label  Jurisdiction.  Frequent  disputes  arise  between  trade 
unions  using  the  UNION  LABEL  in  regard  to  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
label  on  certain  products  or  the  exclusive  right  to  organize  workers 
engaged  in  producing  LABEL  GOODS.  These  difficulties  arise  in  three 
classes  of  cases:  (i)  Where  the  members  of  two  trades  claim  the  right 
to  do  the  same  work  and  to  place  their  label  on  the  product;  (2) 
where  the  product  is  one  made  by  workers  of  several  distinct  trades 
each  of  which  claims  the  right  to  participate  in  the  regulation  of  the 
label;  and  (3)  where  certain  trades  are  essentially  subsidiary.  Such 
disputes  are  usually  settled  by  JURISDICTIONAL  AGREEMENTS  between 
the  national  or  local  unions  involved.  In  cases  of  the  second-named 
class,  the  adoption  of  a  JOINT  LABEL  has  generally  served  to  solve  the 
difficulty.  In  the  third-named  class  it  is  sometimes  required  that 
members  of  the  subsidiary  trades  shall  become  members  of  the 
label-using  union,  in  addition  to  holding  membership  in  the  union 
of  their  own  trade  or  craft.  (See  ALLIED  PRINTING  TRADES  COUNCILS.) 

Label  Leagues.     See  UNION  LABEL  LEAGUES. 

Label  Secretary.     See  LABEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

[275] 


Label  Shop.  An  industrial  establishment  which  uses  the 
UNION  LABEL  on  its  product,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  a  LABEL 

AGREEMENT. 

Label  Steward.    See  LABEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

Label  Trades.  Those  occupations  or  industries  the  product 
of  which  commonly  bear  the  UNION  LABEL  are  sometimes  so  called. 
Cigar  making  is  the  oldest  and  best  known  of  the  label  trades. 

Label  Unions.  Those  labor  organizations,  local  or  national, 
which  make  use  of  the  UNION  LABEL  on  articles  produced  by  their 
members,  are  so  called.  Such  unions  are  sometimes  initiated  and 
fostered  by  employers,  who  wish  to  secure  the  use  of  the  label  as  a 
commercial  asset.  (See  DEPENDENT  UNIONISM.) 

Labor.  In  the  classic  economic  definition,  "human  exertion 
of  mind  or  body  undergone  with  the  object  of  creating  goods";  one 
of  the  three  agents  of  production,  land  and  capital  being  the  others. 
But,  unlike  land  and  capital,  labor  is  not  a  tangible  thing;  it  can  never 
be  disassociated  from  the  body  and  mind  of  the  laborer.  Hence  the 
old  economic  classification  has  in  part  given  rise  to  limitless  current 
confusion,  as  implying  that  "labor"  and  "capital"  are  coordinate 
things  which,  according  to  the  cant  formula,  must  "get  together," 
"cooperate,"  "adjust  their  differences,"  etc.,  etc.  As  the  English 
writer,  R.  H.  Tawney,  has  well  said,  "'labor'  consists  of  persons; 
'capital'  consists  of  things  or  claims  to  things.  To  lament  'the 
strife,'  or  to  plead  for  'cooperation'  between  'labor  and  capital'  is 
much  as  though  an  author  should  deplore  the  ill-feeling  between 
carpenters  and  hammers  or  undertake  a  crusade  to  restore  harmonious 
relations  between  mankind  and  their  boots.  The  muddle  is  not 
mended  by  the  fact  that  by  'capital'  is  meant  'capitalists.'  For  the 
vice  of  the  phrase  is  that  it  treats  the  claims  of  'labor  and  capital' 
as  coordinate.  If  they  are,  and  were  generally  recognized  to  be, 
coordinate,  cadit  qu&stio.  But  the  problem  only  arises  because 
an  increasing  proportion  of  mankind  believes  that  the  world  should 
be  managed  primarily  for  those  who  work,  not  for  those  who  own. 
To  start  by  burying  that  fundamental  issue  beneath  smooth  phrases 
as  to  'the  common  aim  of  industry'  is  to  assume  the  very  point 
which  requires  to  be  proved,  and  which  alone  provides  matter  for 
discussion."  In  the  present  book  and  in  nearly  all  treatments  or 
discussions  of  the  LABOR  MOVEMENT,  it  is  MANUAL  LABOR  that  is 
chiefly  referred  to — not  because  manual  labor  is  regarded  as  the 
only  form  of  labor,  but  because  "it  is  that  kind  of  labor  which  those 

[276] 


who  engage  in  the  movement  believe  to  have  been  most  wronged 
in  the  past  and  most  to  need  having  wrongs  righted  in  the  present." 
For  a  broad  inclusive  definition  of  labor  Ruskin's  is  probably  the 
best:  "Labor  is  the  contest  of  the  life  of  man  with  an  opposite; 
the  term  'life'  including  his  intellect,  soul,  and  physical  power, 
contending  with  question,  difficulty,  trial,  or  material  force."  (See 
COMMODITY  THEORY  OF  LABOR;  LABOR  SUPPLY;  SUPPLY  AND  DE- 
MAND, LAW  OF.) 

Labor  Agreement.    SEE  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

"Labor  and  the  New  Social  Order."  A  draft  report  on 
post-war  reconstruction,  prepared  by  a  sub-committee  of  the  BRITISH 
LABOR  PARTY  and  submitted  to  the  Party  in  January,  1918.  Most 
of  its  proposals  were  adopted  in  the  form  of  resolutions  at  the  Party's 
summer  conference,  in  June,  1918.  The  report  was  widely  reprinted 
and  discussed  as  one  of  the  most  significant  documents  of  the  war 
period. 

Labor  Armies.     See  REVOLUTIONARY  LABOR  ARMIES. 

Labor  Audit.  Defined  by  Messrs.  Tead  and  Metcalf  as  "a 
reasonably  exhaustive  and  systematic  statement  and  analysis  of 
the  facts  and  forces  in  an  industrial  organization  which  affect  the 
relations  between  employees  and  management,  and  between  em- 
ployees and  their  work;  followed  by  recommendations  as  to  ways 
of  making  the  organization  more  socially  and  humanly  productive 
and  solvent."  It  is  the  work  of  a  trained  auditor  or  investigator,  who 
corresponds,  in  the  field  of  labor  relations,  to  a  financial  auditor 
or  sales  auditor  in  the  financial  and  selling  fields  of  industry.  The 
labor  audit  is  an  important  function  of  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRATION. 

Labor  Booklet.  In  order  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  disputes 
between  individual  wage  earners  and  the  employers  of  labor  over 
the  performance  of  the  terms  of  employment,  every  worker  in  Russia 
is  provided  with  a  "labor  booklet,"  in  which  must  be  entered  the 
terms  of  his  employment,  the  quantity  of  work  performed,  the 
amount  of  wages  received  by  him,  and  all  other  particulars  relating 
to  his  work  and  payment.  This  general  system  has  long  prevailed 
in  other  European  countries,  and  even  in  Russia  it  is  by  no  means 
an  innovation  of  the  Soviet  government.  In  present-day  Russia, 
however,  the  "labor  booklet"  serves  as  a  passport  and  as  a  method 
of  enforcing  the  Soviet  labor  code. 

Labor  Boss.     See  Boss. 

[277] 


Labor  Camps.  Living  quarters,  generally  provided  by  employ- 
ers, for  workers  engaged  upon  industrial  operations  (mining,  lumber- 
ing, railway  construction,  agriculture,  etc.)  in  regions  inaccessible 
or  inconvenient  to  ordinary  towns  or  cities.  Such  camps  are  usually 
of  a  temporary  nature,  although  the  investigations  of  the  FEDERAL 
COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  disclosed  "a  large  number" 
of  labor  camps  "which  have  been  in  existence  for  more  than  a  gen- 
eration." Labor  camps  for  certain  kinds  of  work  have  been  brought 
under  public  regulation  in  a  few  states.  (See  CLOSED  CAMP;  COM- 
PANY HOUSING;  JUNGLE;  FLUNKEY;  WALKER.) 

Labor  Checks.  Some  socialists  have  advocated  that  so-called 
"labor  checks"  be  substituted  for  money  in  the  future  SOCIALIST 
COMMONWEALTH.  In  such  a  State,  it  is  argued,  every  individual  will 
work  for  the  common  good,  and  for  purposes  of  exchange  there  will 
be  necessary  only  an  official  ticket  or  token  certifying  to  the  amount 
of  such  work  that  has  been  rendered  during  a  specified  period  of  time. 
These  tickets  or  tokens  would  be  exchangeable  for  goods  in  the 
various  stores  owned  and  operated  by  the  State. 

Labor  Church  Movement.  Originating  in  England  in  1891, 
this  movement  has  since  spread  to  the  United  States,  Canada,  and 
elsewhere.  It  consists  in  the  establishment  of  special  places  of  wor- 
ship for  members  of  the  laboring  classes,  its  supporters  believing 
that  "the  emancipation  of  labor  can  only  be  realized  so  far  as  men 
learn  both  the  economic  and  the  moral  laws  of  God,  and  heartily 
endeavor  to  obey  them." 

Labor  Clearance  Zones.    See  ZONE  CLEARANCE  SYSTEM. 
Labor  College.    See  CENTRAL  LABOR  COLLEGE. 

Labor  Colonies.  Described  as  an  attempt  to  "put  the  waste 
labor  on  the  waste  land  by  means  of  the  waste  capital,"  labor  colonies 
date  back  to  1818,  when  the  Society  of  Beneficence  founded  the  first 
Dutch  enterprise.  The  members  of  these  colonies  are  recruited  from 
the  ranks  of  the  defective,  the  vagrant,  the  inefficient,  and  the  un- 
employed. Their  purpose  is  generally  to  provide  temporary  employ- 
ment, usually  of  an  agricultural  nature,  for  destitute  workers,  who 
receive  not  only  board  and  lodging  but  some  nominal  wages  also.  The 
organization  of  labor  colonies  has  been  undertaken  by  public  authori- 
ties or  private  charity  associations  in  nearly  all  large  countries. 
Sometimes  (as  in  Belgium)  such  colonies  are  mainly  in  the  nature 
of  penal  institutions  for  beggars  and  vagrants.  In  America  the 

[278] 


Salvation  Army  has  led  the  labor  colony  movement.  Because  of  its 
large  tracts  of  waste  land  upon  which  labor  may  be  utilized,  Aus- 
tralia has  been  particularly  successful  in  organizing  labor  colonies. 

Labor  Contract.  A  general  designation  for  any  form  of 
agreement  "by  which  one  who  is  called  the  employer  engages  another 
who  is  called  the  employee  to  do  something  for  the  benefit  of  the 
employer  or  of  a  third  person."  While  theoretically  similar,  in  a 
legal  sense,  to  other  kinds  of  contract,  the  labor  contract  has  in 
course  of  time  come  to  be  recognized  as  something  peculiar,  in  that 
it  can  never  be  specifically  enforced.  According  to  Commons  and 
Andrews,  "the  laborer  cannot  sell  himself  into  slavery  or  into  INVOL- 
UNTARY SERVITUDE.  He  retains  the  right  to  change  his  mind,  to 
quit  work,  to  run  away.  Certain  other  contracts  can,  in  the  absence 
of  any  other  sufficient  remedy,  be  enforced  by  the  courts  by  compel- 
ling 'specific  performance.'  But  specific  performance  of  the  labor 
contract  is  involuntary  servitude.  Business  contracts,  if  violated, 
are  ground  for  damages  which  the  court  orders  paid  even  to  the 
extent  of  taking  all  of  the  business  property  of  the  debtor.  The  labor 
contract  also,  if  violated,  is  ground  for  damages,  but  for  the  court 
to  order  damages  paid  out  of  labor  property  would  be  to  order  the 
laborer  to  work  out  the  debt.  This  is  involuntary  servitude.  Hence 
the  employer  is  left  with  the  empty  remedy  of  bringing  suit  against 
a  property  less  man.  He  can  protect  himself  by  making  contracts 
which  he  also  can  terminate  at  any  time  by  discharging  the  workman 
without  notice.  Thus  the  labor  contract  becomes,  in  effect,  a  new 
contract  every  day  and  hour.  It  is  a  continuous  process  of  wage 
bargaining.  It  carries  no  effective  rights  and  duties  for  the  future, 
and  is  as  insecure  as  it  is  free."  Involving  as  it  does  the  body  and 
life  of  the  laborer,  the  labor  contract  is  a  bargain  not  only  for  wages 
but  also  for  hours  of  labor,  physical  conditions  of  sanitation  and 
safety,  risks  of  accident  and  disease,  etc.  "UNEMPLOYMENT  is  failure 
to  make  such  a  bargain;  IMMIGRATION,  CHILD  LABOR,  education, 
PRISON  LABOR,  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  and  so  on,  are  conditions 
which  determine  the  bargaining  power  of  the  laborer.  Every  topic 
in  LABOR  LEGISLATION  is  a  phase  of  the  wage  bargain,  and  it  is 
because  a  large  class  of  people  have  come  to  depend  permanently, 
not  on  their  property  or  resources,  but  on  these  bargains  with  property- 
owners,  that  labor  legislation  has  significance."  While  TRADE  AGREE- 
MENTS are  often  called  "labor  contracts,"  they  are  in  reality  no  more 
than  mutually  accepted  memoranda  of  rates  of  pay  and  working 
conditions,  to  which  the  real  labor  contract  between  the  individual 

[279] 


employer  and  the  Individual  employee  is  supposed  to  conform. 
Like  the  individual  contract,  it  cannot  be  enforced  without  creating 
a  condition  of  involuntary  servitude.  (See  CONTRACT  AT  WILL.) 

Labor  Copartnership.  A  general  designation  for  any  effort 
to  modify  the  WAGE  SYSTEM  by  the  application  of  PROFIT  SHARING 
and  CAPITAL  SHARING  to  an  industrial  enterprise.  The  use  of  the 
term  is  not  limited  to  any  particular  method,  except,  perhaps,  that 
simple  profit  sharing  is  usually  regarded  as  only  a  step  towards 
labor  copartnership,  and  that,  in  its  more  definite  sense,  the  principle 
involves  provisions  for  the  employees  to  accumulate  capital.  A 
copartnership  idealist  would  probably  add  that  to  be  perfect  there 
should  be  some  form  of  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION  in  the  adminis- 
tration. It  is  claimed  that  copartnership  gives  the  employee  in- 
creased interest  in  the  economy  and  efficiency  of  production,  coupled 
with  the  feeling  that  he  is  being  more  equitably  dealt  with  in  the 
division  of  the  profits  of  industry,  whilst  capital  owning  brings  with 
it  a  greater  sense  of  responsibility  and  a  wider  outlook.  Labor  co- 
partnership seems  to  have  received  its  earliest  stimulus  in  France, 
where  the  two  most  noted  examples  of  its  application  are  found  in 
the  Maison  Leclaire,  a  painting  and  decorating  concern  of  Paris,  and 
the  Godin  FAMILISTERE  at  Guise.  The  movement  soon  spread  to 
England,  where  it  has  made  the  largest  progress.  Here  it  is  encour- 
aged and  represented  by  the  Labor  Copartnership  Association, 
which  seeks  (i)  in  the  cooperative  movement  to  aid  by  its  propaganda 
and  advice  all  forms  of  production  based  on  the  copartnership  prin- 
ciple, and  (2)  in  other  businesses  to  induce  employers  and  employed 
to  adopt  schemes  of  profit  sharing  and  investment  tending  in  the 
same  direction.  The  plan  adopted  in  1886  by  the  N.  O.  Nelson  Manu- 
facturing Co.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Leclaire,  111.,  is  one  of  the 
earliest  and  best-known  copartnership  experiments  in  the  United 
States.  While  copartnership  has  often  resulted  in  increased  wages, 
it  has  generally  failed  to  give  the  worker  any  effective  share  in  the 
direction  and  control  of  industry.  It  is,  indeed,  actively  opposed 
by  the  organized  labor  movement,  as  tending  to  weaken  trade  union- 
ism and  to  obscure  the  fundamental  issue  between  labor  and  capi- 
talism. The  term  "copartnership"  is  often  used  in  connection  with 
independent  trading  concerns  formed  by  working  men,  but  these 
are  in  reality  cooperative  societies.  (See  TENANTS'  COPARTNERSHIP 
SOCIETIES.) 

Labor  Cost  or  Labor  Value.    See  WAGES. 

Labor  Councils.    See  AUSTRALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

[280] 


Labor  Day.  An  international  holiday  dedicated  to  labor,  and 
usually  celebrated  by  parades,  picnics,  open-air  demonstrations, 
etc.  In  the  United  States,  Labor  Day  falls  on  the  first  Monday  in 
September;  in  Europe,  on  the  first  day  of  May.  Labor  Day  is  held 
especially  sacred  by  all  American  trade  unionists.  It  is  not  unusual 
to  levy  a  fine  upon  any  member  who  works.  Sometimes  a  member 
is  fined  even  for  not  joining  in  the  Labor  Day  parade.  Of  course 
these  special  regulations  have  a  motive  beyond  the  economic  motive 
which  prompts  the  observance  of  other  holidays  and  the  disapproval 
of  OVERTIME.  Labor  Day  is  sacred  to  the  working  class,  and  to  fail 
to  do  it  honor  is  considered  a  sort  of  profanation.  (See  LABOR 
SUNDAY;  LABOR'S  MEMORIAL  DAY.) 

Labor  Decrease.    See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 

Labor  Department.  See  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OP 
LABOR. 

Labor  Detective  Agencies.  Private  companies  whose  func- 
tion it  is  to  supply  employers  with  UNDER-COVER  MEN,  AGENTS 

PROVOCATEURS,    STRIKEBREAKERS,   ARMED   GUARDS,   etc.      The  TCCCnt 

exhaustive  investigation  of  ESPIONAGE  IN  INDUSTRY,  made  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Cabot  Fund  for  Industrial  Research,  revealed  the 
existence  of  hundreds  of  such  agencies.  Some  are  huge  national 
organizations,  with  branch  offices  in  all  prominent  industrial  centres; 
while  the  majority  are  smaller  local  agencies.  They  usually  operate 
under  high-sounding  names  which  give  no  clue  to  the  real  nature  of 
the  business — such  as  "service,"  "service  corporation,"  "industrial 
engineers,"  "harmonizers,"  "conciliators,"  "adjusters,"  etc.  Many 
of  them  originally  were,  and  some  still  are  in  part,  criminal  detective 
agencies;  while  their  executives  are  almost  invariably  former  crim- 
inal detectives.  According  to  the  Cabot  Report,  the  original  Pinker- 
ton  first  discovered  the  possibilities  of  the  detective  in  industry; 
and  because  of  his  subsequent  activity  in  this  field,  it  is  common 
among  the  working  class  to  speak  of  any  labor  detective  as  a  "Pink- 
erton"  or  "Pinkerton  man."  The  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL 
COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  contains  the  following 
paragraph  with  reference  to  this  matter:  "In  view  of  the  endless 
crimes  committed  by  the  employees  of  the  so-called  detective  agencies, 
who  have  been  permitted  to  usurp  a  function  that  should  belong 
only  to  the  State,  it  is  suggested  that  the  Commission  recommend 
to  Congress  either  that  such  of  these  agencies  as  may  operate  in 
more  than  one  State,  or  may  be  employed  by  corporations  engaged 

[281] 


in  interstate  commerce,  or  may  use  the  mails,  shall  be  compelled  to 
take  out  a  Federal  license,  with  regulations  to  insure  the  character 
of  their  employees  and  the  limitation  of  their  activities  to  the  bona 
fide  business  of  detecting  crime,  or  that  such  agencies  shall  be  utterly 
abolished  through  the  operation  of  the  taxing  power  or  through 
denying  them  the  use  of  the  mails." 

Labor  Exchanges.  Public  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS,  particularly 
of  the  highly  developed  type  operated  under  governmental  control 
in  England  and  other  foreign  countries,  are  commonly  so  called. 
"Labor  exchanges  cannot  create  work  nor  make  the  existing  irregular 
demand  for  labor  steady  the  year  through,  but  they  can,  if  properly 
managed,  remove  the  unnecessary  loss  of  time  which  workers  now 
suffer  in  passing  from  one  job  to  the  next;  they  can  eliminate  the 
numberless  evils  which  now  characterize  private  employment  offices ; 
and  they  can  provide  the  information  and  administrative  machinery 
which  is  essential  to  every  other  step  in  dealing  with  the  problem." 
(See  LABOR  EXCHANGES  ACT;  DECASUALIZATION  OF  LABOR;  BUREAUX 
PARITAIRES;  BOURSES  DU  TRAVAIL.) 

Labor  Exchanges  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary  enactment 
of  1909,  which  authorized  the  Board  of  Trade  to  collect  and  furnish 
information  as  to  employers  requiring  workpeople,  and  workpeople 
seeking  employment,  and  to  authorize  loans  toward  meeting  the 
expenses  of  workpeople  travelling  to  places  where  employment  has 
been  found  for  them  through  an  employment  exchange.  For  the 
purposes  of  the  Act,  the  whole  country  is  divided  into  several  divi- 
sions, each  with  a  divisional  clearing-house,  presided  over  by  a 
divisional  chief,  and  all  coordinated  with  a  national  clearing-house 
in  London.  Distributed  throughout  these  divisions  are  more  than 
five  hundred  local  LABOR  EXCHANGES,  or  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS. 
A  joint  advisory  committee  is  established  in  every  principal  centre, 
on  which  representatives  of  workmen  and  employers  meet  in  equal 
numbers,  under  the  chairmanship  of  an  impartial  permanent  official. 
In  1917  the  employment  exchanges  came  under  the  control  of  the 
newly  constituted  Ministry  of  Labor. 

Labor  Flux.    See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 

Labor  Forward  Movement.  A  name  given  to  the  organized 
effort  on  the  part  of  constituent  bodies  of  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION 
OF  LABOR  to  arouse  members  to  increased  activity  and  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  union  labor,  and  to  disseminate  more  widely  information 
regarding  trade  union  principles  and  ideals.  This  work  was  inaugu- 

[282] 


rated  in  1912  by  an  intensive  campaign  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul, 
which  has  been  followed  at  intervals  by  similar  campaigns  in  other 
large  cities. 

Labor  Glut.    See  LABOR  SUPPLY. 

Labor  Increase.    See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 

Labor  Inspection  in  Russia.  The  Soviet  labor  code  provides 
for  a  national  system  of  inspection  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT  OF  LABOR.  Labor  inspectors  are  elected 
by  the  central  bodies  of  the  trade  unions.  The  powers  of  the  labor 
inspectors  are  very  wide.  They  may  enter  at  any  time  of  day  or 
night  any  industrial  establishment,  as  well  as  the  lodgings  provided 
by  the  employers  for  their  workers.  They  may  adopt  special  rules 
for  the  removal  of  conditions  endangering  the  life  and  health  of 
employees.  They  may  require  the  production  by  the  management 
of  all  the  books  and  records  of  the  establishment,  and  they  may 
prosecute  all  persons  violating  the  provisions  of  the  labor  code. 

Labor  Legislation.  While  distinction  was  formerly  made  be- 
tween FACTORY  ACTS  and  labor  legislation,  the  latter  term  is  now 
generally  used  in  designation  of  any  laws  which  are  directly  or  in- 
directly related  to  the  interests  of  labor.  In  Professor  Carlton's 
classification,  labor  legislation  is  of  three  main  kinds:  "(i)  Legis- 
lation of  a  general  character,  considered  desirable  by  organized 
labor  but  not  dealing  specifically  with  the  wage  earners  as  a  class, 
for  example,  free  schools,  free  homesteads,  the  popular  election  of 
United  States  senators,  the  Australian  ballot  system,  the  parcels 
post;  (2)  legislation  specifically  beneficial  to  the  wage  earning  class, 
such  as  laws  fixing  the  maximum  number  of  working  hours  per  day, 
the  restriction  of  IMMIGRATION,  CHILD  LABOR  laws  and  WORKMEN'S 
COMPENSATION;  (3)  distinctly  union  legislation,  such  as  modifications 
in  the  laws  in  regard  to  the  INJUNCTION,  and  the  exemption  of  labor 
organizations  from  the  provisions  of  the  anti-trust  laws."  While 
any  adequate  outline  or  discussion  of  labor  legislation  is  obviously 
impossible  in  such  a  book  as  this,  one  or  two  general  points  of  interest 
may  be  noted.  The  terms  "master"  and  "servant"  used  in  early 
British  and  American  legislation  are  expressive  of  the  old  servile 
status  of  the  laborer,  when  his  body  was  actually  or  in  effect  the  prop- 
erty of  his  employer  or  creditor.  While  the  law  still  retains  these 
terms,  legislatures  have  largely  broken  away  from  them,,  preferring 
"employer"  and  "employee"  as  expressive  of  some  degree  of  equality 
in  the  wage  bargain.  In  comparison  with  such  a  country  as  Great 

(283] 


Britain,  where  unified  legislation  is  enacted  for  the  nation  as  a  whole, 
by  a  body  in  which  labor  has  its  own  elected  representatives,  the 
labor  interests  of  the  United  States  are  in  a  position  of  peculiar 
disadvantage — owing  mainly  to  our  federal  system  of  government 
and  the  constitutional  supremacy  of  our  judiciary  over  labor  legis- 
lation. Professor  Commons  states  the  position  thus:  "On  account 
of  the  fact  that  we  have  some  fifty  different  legislative  bodies  enacting 
labor  laws  on  entirely  different  levels  of  pressure,  and  as  many 
different  courts  declaring  these  laws  unconstitutional,  labor  has  been 
compelled  to  organize  over  a  wide  area,  to  solidify  its  organization, 
and  to  enact,  by  the  power  of  organization,  uniform  laws  which 
our  federal  system  and  our  written  constitutions  have  prevented 
the  states  from  enacting."  In  addition  to  this  direct  enactment  of 
labor  legislation,  organized  labor  exerts  a  considerable  influence, 
through  the  CITY  CENTRALS,  STATE  FEDERATIONS  OF  LABOR,  and 
LEGISLATIVE  COMMITTEES  of  the  national  unions  and  the  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  in  advancing  legislation  "favorable"  to 
labor  interests  and  defeating  "unfavorable"  legislation.  But  other 
groups  play  an  important  part.  The  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee with  its  state  branches  in  many  industrial  states,  the  NATIONAL 
WOMEN'S  TRADE  UNION  LEAGUE,  the  National  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUE, 
the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation — these  are  some 
of  the  important  agencies  that  have  helped  to  secure  a  large  portion 
of  the  progressive  American  industrial  legislation  of  the  past.  They 
have  often  worked  in  close  cooperation  with  the  legislative  committees 
of  the  unions.  (See  POLICE  POWER;  LABOR  LOBBY;  STATE  INDUS- 
TRIAL COMMISSION;  LEGAL  ENACTMENT.) 

Labor  Lieutenants.  The  common  assumption  of  CRAFT 
UNIONISM  that  the  interests  of  employer  and  employee  are  "iden- 
tical" has  given  rise  to  the  charge  on  the  part  of  radical  unionists 
that  the  ORGANIZERS  and  officials  of  conservative  unions  are  the 
"labor  lieutenants  of  the  CAPTAINS  OF  INDUSTRY" — a  phrase  said  to 
have  been  first  used  by  Mark  Hanna. 

Labor  Lobby.  In  ordinary  usage,  the  term  "lobby"  is  ap- 
plied to  any  group  of  persons  who,  while  not  members  of  a  legislative 
body,  endeavor  to  influence  the  action  of  such  a  body  in  regard  to 
legislation  in  which  the  "lobbyists"  are  interested.  They  may 
be  paid  representatives  of  certain  "interests,"  following  this  as  a 
regular  profession,  or  they  may  simply  visit  the  capital  upon  certain 
important  occasions  when  they  wish  to  advance  or  defeat  a  particu- 
lar measure.  A  "labor  lobby,"  like  any  other,  may  be  either  of 

[284] 


these  two  kinds.  Its  purpose  is  to  promote  legislation  favorable  to 
organized  labor  or  to  defeat  unfavorable  legislation.  Its  ethical 
position,  like  that  of  an  employers'  or  any  other  lobby,  depends  upon 
the  character  of  the  methods  which  it  pursues.  (See  LEGISLATIVE 
COMMITTEE.) 

Labor  Manager.  The  PERSONNEL  MANAGER  in  a  large  indus- 
trial establishment  is  often  so  called.  In  connection  with  the  CON- 
TINUOUS ARBITRATION  machinery  set  up  in  the  American  clothing 
trades,  the  labor  manager  has  played  a  particularly  important  part. 
Besides  the  individual  managers  for  the  larger  plants,  the  smaller 
establishments  in  each  of  the  six  leading  clothing  centres  usually 
combine  to  hire  a  single  labor  manager.  These  officials,  for  the  most 
part  industrial  and  economic  experts,  are  usually  the  employers' 
representatives  on  joint  boards  and  in  all  negotiations  with  the 
workers. 

Labor  Market.  This  term  is  commonly  used  in  designation 
of  the  total  LABOR  SUPPLY  available  for  purchase  at  a  given  time  and 
place;  or,  in  a  more  abstract  sense,  the  arrangement  by  which,  or 
the  field  in  which,  the  forces  of  supply  and  demand  in  relation  to 
the  purchase  of  "labor"  are  operative.  This  common  conception 
of  a  "labor  market,"  corresponding  in  all  essential  respects  to  a 
"metal  market"  or  a  "wheat  market,"  is  of  course  a  natural  cor- 
rolary  to  the  COMMODITY  THEORY  OF  LABOR. 

Labor  Members.  In  England,  those  representatives  of  working- 
class  interests  who  have  been  elected  to  any  public  body — whether 
the  Imperial  Parliament  or  a  local  board  of  any  sort. 

Labor  Monopoly.  See  MONOPOLY  POLICY  OF  TRADE  UNION- 
ISM. 

Labor  Movement.  In  a  limited  sense,  any  organized  effort 
on  the  part  of  a  group  of  wage-earners  is  a  "labor  movement."  In 
a  much  broader  sense,  what  is  called  the  labor  movement  is  often 
identified  with  the  purely  industrial  or  economic  side  of  trade 
unionism,  whether  of  a  single  country  or  of  all  countries.  But  in 
the  broadest  possible  sense,  the  term  is  an  inclusive  all-embracing 
designation  for  the  entire  field  of  labor  activities  and  aspirations — 
all  the  facts,  theories,  forces,  tendencies,  and  achievements  which 
go  to  make  up  or  are  definitely  associated  with  the  organized  effort 
of  the  world's  toilers  to  improve  and  to  control  the  conditions  of  their 
lives.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  term  has  been  used  in  the  title  of 

[285] 


the  present  volume.  The  labor  movement,  says  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  "is 
at  once  national  and  international.  It  appears  in  many  Common- 
wealths, and  in  each  it  has  its  own  special  characteristics.  It  tran- 
scends the  borders  of  Commonwealths;  but  in  its  international  group- 
ings it  consistently  recognizes  national  divisions.  But  nationally  and 
internationally  it  has  at  least  two  wings  or  methods  of  expression — 
an  industrial  or  Trade  Union  wing,  and  a  political  wing,  usually 
Socialist  in  character.  It  has  also  in  most  countries  a  Cooperative 
wing,  more  or  less  loosely  attached  to  either  or  both  of  the  others. 
The  relations  between  these  different  wings  of  the  Labor  Movement 
vary  from  country  to  country.  Sometimes,  as  in  France,  there  is 
very  little  connection  between  the  Socialist  Party  and  the  Trade 
Unions:  sometimes,  as  in  Great  Britain,  the  Trade  Unions  largely 
form  the  political  party  of  Labor:  sometimes,  as  in  Germany,  the 
Social  Democratic  Party  dominates  the  Trade  Unions:  sometimes, 
as  in  Belgium,  the  political,  industrial  and  cooperative  wings  of  the 
movement  are  joined  inseparably  together.  Whatever  the  actual 
form  of  organization  adopted,  there  is  usually  a  fairly  close  approxi- 
mation in  policy  and  tactics  among  the  various  national  movements." 
In  one  sense,  to  quote  Mr.  Cole  again,  "the  modern  Labor  Movement 
is  the  reaction  of  the  working  class  against  CAPITALISM  ;  but  there  is 
a  more  fundamental  sense  in  which  it  is  not  a  reaction,  but  the  fruit 
of  a  creative  impulse.  In  the  first  sense,  it  is  merely  defensive  and 
protective:  it  aims  merely  at  maintaining  or  improving  the  workers' 
standard  of  life  within  the  existing  economic  order.  But  in  the 
more  fundamental  sense,  it  is  a  challenge  to  the  existing  order,  and 
at  least  a  suggestion  of  the  order  which  should  take  its  place." 
Comprising  as  it  does  many  millions  of  human  beings  in  every 
"civilized"  country,  the  labor  movement  is  at  once  the  most  com- 
plex, many-sided,  and  significant  social  phenomenon  of  present 
times.  It  is  a  movement  of  continual  change,  of  kaleidoscopic 
variety,  of  progression  here  and  retrogression  there;  a  movement 
divided  by  conflicting  theories  and  counsels,  torn  and  retarded  by 
internal  conflict,  yet  somehow  ever  making  headway  by  diverse 
paths  toward  a  single  uridiscerned  goal.  (See  WORKERS'  CONTROL.) 

Labor  Norm.  In  Russia,  every  wage-earner  is  required  to 
turn  out  the  daily  standard  output  fixed  for  his  class  and  grade  of 
work  by  the  valuation  committee  of  his  trade  union,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT  OF  LABOR,  representing  the 
interests  of  labor,  and  the  SUPREME  COUNCIL  OF  PUBLIC  ECONOMY, 
representing  the  interests  of  national  industry.  This  standard  is 

[286] 


known  as  the  "labor  norm."  A  wage  earner  who  falls  below  the 
standard  may  be  demoted  by  decision  of  the  valuation  committee 
of  his  union,  but  he  may  appeal  from  that  decision  to  the  local  and 
the  district  office  of  the  Commissariat  of  Labor.  The  decision  of 
the  district  office  is  final. 

Labor  Outings.  As  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  supplying 
the  extra  labor  necessary  to  harvesting  operations  in  the  grain  belt, 
the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  has  proposed  that  in- 
dustrial establishments  should  make  their  not  unusual  but  irregular 
suspensions  of  work  at  such  times  and  for  such  periods  as  would 
permit  their  employees  to  engage  in  suitable  SEASONAL  OCCUPATIONS. 
Not  only  would  this  assist  in  solving  seasonal  problems;  it  would 
tend  to  make  steadier  the  work  of  the  industrial  establishments  them- 
selves. To  make  up  for  their  shortages  of  output  from  these  seasonal 
suspensions,  the  industrial  establishments  would  increase  their  out- 
put the  rest  of  the  year  and  therefore  their  demand  for  labor.  For 
workers  incapable  of  doing  heavy  harvest  work,  other  seasonal 
employments  would  be  possible.  (See  AGRICULTURAL  LABOR.) 

Labor  Party  of  the  United  States.  See  NATIONAL  LABOR 
PARTY. 

Labor  Platform  of  the  League  of  Nations.  The  Treaty  of 
Versailles  sets  forth  nine  "methods  and  principles  for  regulating 
labor  conditions  which  all  industrial  communities  should  endeavor- 
to  apply,  so  far  as  their  special  circumstances  will  permit,"  and  which 
"are  well  fitted  to  guide  the  policy  of  the  League  of  Nations." 
These  nine  "methods  or  principles,"  representing  what  has  been 
called  the  Magna  Charta  of  Labor,  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 
(i)  Labor  must  not  be  regarded  as  a  commodity;  (2)  right  of  associa- 
tion of  employees  and  employers;  (3)  adequate  wage  to  maintain 
a  reasonable  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  ;  (4)  the  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  or  FORTY- 
EIGHT-HOUR  WEEK;  (5)  weekly  rest  of  at  least  twenty-four  hours; 
(6)  abolition  of  CHILD  LABOR;  (7)  EQUAL  PAY  FOR  EQUAL  WORK  re- 
gardless of  sex;  (8)  equitable  treatment  of  all  workers,  including 
foreigners;  (9)  a  system  of  state  inspection,  with  representation  for 
women.  (See  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR  ORGANIZATION;  GENERAL 
LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS.) 

Labor  Press.  The  list  of  regular  periodical  publications 
devoted  wholly  or  mainly  to  labor  affairs  and  concerns  is  a  long  and 
varied  one.  In  addition  to  the  journals  issued  by,  and  in  the  interests 
of,  individual  labor  organizations,  as  described  in  the  entry  on  TRADE 

[287] 


ORGANS,  there  are  numerous  periodicals  of  more  general  scope 
which  depend  for  their  support  upon  a  working-class  clientele.  A 
notable  example  of  this  class,  in  the  English-speaking  field,  is  the 
"Daily  Herald"  of  London,  with  a  daily  circulation  of  several  hun- 
dred thousand  copies.  The  numerous  daily,  weekly,  or  monthly 
periodicals  published  in  the  interests  of  SOCIALISM  may  also  be  con- 
sidered as  essentially  a  section  of  the  labor  press,  although  their 
clientele  includes  many  besides  manual  wage-earners.  Still  another 
and  decidedly  different  section  is  that  composed  of  the  official 
journals  and  reviews  issued  by  the  various  national  departments  and 
bureaus  of  labor  throughout  the  world.  In  these,  labor  affairs  are 
considered  largely  from  the  administrative  and  legislative  points  of 
view.  Many  of  them,  however,  devote  much  space  to  records  of 
general  changes  and  tendencies  in  the  labor  field ;  to  reports  of  special 
investigations  into  various  aspects  of  the  labor  problem;  to  statistics 
on  the  COST  OF  LIVING,  UNEMPLOYMENT,  changes  in  wage  levels, 
etc.;  and  to  digests  of  current  labor  legislation.  The  "Monthly 
Labor  Review"  issued  by  the  Federal  BUREAU  OP  LABOR  STATISTICS 
is  typical  of  this  class.  Some  of  the  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSIONS 
in  this  country  issue  periodicals  devoted  in  the  main  to  a  record  of 
the  commissions'  activities  and  accomplishments.  The  INTERNA- 
TIONAL LABOR  OFFICE  of  the  League  of  Nations  now  issues  three 
regular  periodical  publications,  in  both  English  and  French  editions. 
Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  official  journals  or  bulletins 
issued  by  some  of  the  more  important  "reform"  organizations — 
as  for  example,  the  "American  Labor  Legislative  Review,"  published 
quarterly  by  the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation.  A 
recent  development  of  some  importance  in  connection  with  the 
American  labor  press  is  represented  by  the  Federated  Press  League — 
a  central  service  or  clearing-house  for  news  in  the  field  of  international 
labor  affairs.  While  organized  primarily  in  the  interests  of  the  labor 
and  liberal  press,  its  membership  list  is  open  to  individual  subscribers 
as  well. 

Labor  Problem.  In  a  general  sense,  practically  every  phase 
of  the  LABOR  MOVEMENT  constitutes  a  "labor  problem"  of  one  sort 
or  another.  But  in  a  particular  sense,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
workers  themselves,  the  single  all-embracing  labor  problem  is  the 
problem  of  securing  control  over  the  fundamental  conditions  of 
their  life  and  labor.  More  concretely  stated,  it  is  the  problem  of 
abolishing  the  WAGE  SYSTEM,  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  some 
comprehensive  scheme  of  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY.  "What  may  be 

[288] 


called  the  fundamental  factors  of  the  modern  labor  problem," 
according  to  Adams  and  Sumner,  are  "the  wage  system,  the  per- 
manent status  of  the  wage-earning  class,  the  FACTORY  SYSTEM — 
with  all  which  that  implies — and  the  extreme  concentration  and 
control  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  very  small  proportion  of  the 
population.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  these  fundamental 
conditions  firmly  in  mind;  but  it  is  just  as  necessary  to  remember 
that,  permanent  as  such  institutions  may  seem,  they  are  but  steps 
or  stages  in  a  centuried  process  of  evolution,  whose  past  unfolding 
is  as  profoundly  significant  as  its  future  course  is  fascinating  and 
mysterious."  (See  WORKERS'  CONTROL.) 

Labor  Representation  Committee  Trades  Union  Congress. 
See  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY. 

Labor  Representation  Committees.  In  England,  joint  com- 
mittees of  local  trade  unions,  trade  union  BRANCHES,  etc.,  in  dis- 
tricts which  elect  members  to  the  Imperial  Parliament,  the  function 
of  such  committees  being  "to  watch  over  the  general  interests  of 
labor — political  and  social — both  in  and  out  of  Parliament."  In  some 
cases  such  a  committee  combines  with  the  local  TRADES  COUNCIL, 
forming  what  is  really  a  LOCAL  LABOR  PARTY,  the  resulting  organiza- 
tion being  called  a  "Trades  Council  and  Labor  Representation 
Committee." 

Labor  Research  Department.  Established  in  1912  by  the 
FABIAN  SOCIETY  of  London,  as  the  Fabian  Research  Department, 
this  was  later  organized  as  an  independent  association  of  labor, 
socialist,  and  cooperative  bodies,  together  with  individual  students 
and  investigators.  The  Department  acts  as  a  general  information 
bureau  upon  all  questions  relating  to  the  labor,  socialist,  and  co- 
operative movements,  and  has  special  committees  of  enquiry  into  a 
number  of  questions  of  particular  importance.  It  issues  to  its 
members  a  monthly  bulletin  of  news  relating  to  these  movements, 
and  has  published  several  useful  books  and  pamphlets.  The  trade 
union  work  of  the  Department  is  directed  by  the  "Trade  Union 
Survey,"  on  which  are  represented  many  of  the  largest  British 
trade  unions.  A  separate  "International  Section"  was  added  to 
the  Department's  activities  in  1919.  Headquarters  for  the  Depart- 
ment are  maintained  in  London. 

Labor  Reserve.     See  RESERVE  OF  LABOR. 

Labor  Shortage.     See  LABOR  SUPPLY. 

[289] 


Labor  Statistics,  Bureau  of.  See  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STA- 
TISTICS. 

Labor  Sunday.  At  its  1909  convention  the  AMERICAN  FED- 
ERATION OF  LABOR  adopted  a  resolution  urging  that  the  churches 
of  America  be  requested  to  devote  part  of  their  services  to  a  presen- 
tation of  the  labor  question  on  the  Sunday  preceding  LABOR  DAY — 
the  first  Monday  in  September. 

Labor  Supply.  Correctly  speaking,  this  may  mean  either 
one  of  two  things:  (i)  The  entire  energies  of  the  entire  working 
population  within  any  given  geographical  area;  or  (2)  the  amount  of 
labor  that  the  working  population  of  such  area  may  actually  be 
induced  to  perform  under  existing  conditions  and  wages.  When  the 
supply  of  available  labor  greatly  exceeds  the  demand  at  any  given 
time,  there  is  said  to  be  a  LABOR  SURPLUS  or  labor  glut;  when  the 
demand  greatly  exceeds  the  supply,  the  resulting  condition  is  called 
a  labor  shortage.  (See  LABOR  MARKET.) 

Labor  Surplus.  An  unusual  excess  of  the  available  labor 
supply  over  the  existing  demand.  An  economic  condition,  due  to 
whatever  cause,  in  which  two  workers  are  obliged  to  compete  for  the 
same  job — in  other  words,  a  condition  in  which  a  labor  surplus 
exists — invariably  marks  a  period  of  retrogression  for  organized 
labor.  It  is  not  merely  that  a  widespread  labor  surplus  means 
UNEMPLOYMENT  or  UNDER-EMPLOYMENT,  reduced  wages,  and  other 
direct  misfortunes  for  the  workers;  but  more  important  still,  it  means 
usually  a  concerted  attack  upon  the  main  bulwarks  that  organized 
labor  has  built  up  for  its  protection  during  more  prosperous  periods. 
The  problem  of  eliminating  the  labor  surplus  may  well  be  considered 
the  basic  problem  with  which  trade  unionism  has  to  deal.  (See 
CYCLICAL  FLUCTUATIONS.) 

Labor  Theory  of  Value.  As  expounded  chiefly  by  Adam 
Smith,  Ricardo,  and  Karl  Marx,  this  is  the  economic  theory  that 
the  value  of  a  commodity  depends,  in  the  long  run,  on  the  amount  of 
labor  expended  in  its  production.  "It  is  natural,"  says  Adam  Smith, 
"that  what  is  usually  the  produce  of  two  days'  labor  or  two  hours' 
labor  should  be  worth  double  what  is  usually  the  produce  of  one  day's 
or  one  hour's  labor."  Ricardo  speaks  of  labor  "as  being  the  foundation 
of  all  value,  and  the  relative  quantity  of  labor  as  almost  exclusively 
determining  the  relative  value  of  commodities";  while  according 
to  Marx,  "the  value  of  a  commodity  is  determined  by  the  quantity 

[290] 


of  labor  expended  during  its  production."     (See  SURPLUS  VALUE 
THEORY.) 

Labor  Treaties.  Formal  agreements  or  covenants,  relating 
to  labor  matters,  entered  into  by  two  or  more  countries.  Such 
treaties  fall  into  three  main  groups  or  classes:  (i)  Those  affecting 
the  movement  of  labor,  i.e.,  emigration  and  IMMIGRATION  conven- 
tions; (2)  those  respecting  equality  or  reciprocity  of  treatment  of 
native  and  alien  labor;  and  (3)  those  providing  for  uniform  labor 
standards  in  the  signatory  countries.  Naturally  the  treaties  may 
again  be  classified  according  to  the  subject  matter  dealt  with.  As  a 
result  of  various  international  conferences,  held  usually  at  Berne, 
Switzerland,  there  had  been  signed  early  in  1919  thirty  such  agree- 
ments between  two  countries  and  two  agreements  between  more  than 
two  countries.  (See  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR  ORGANIZATION.) 

Labor  Turnover.  In  regard  to  industry  as  a  whole,  the 
shifting  of  workers  from  job  to  job.  In  regard  to  a  particular  estab- 
lishment, labor  turnover  as  commonly  understood  is  "the  change 
in  force  due  to  men  leaving.  .  .  .  Every  worker  who  leaves  the  employ 
of  a  given  establishment  for  whatever  reason  constitutes  a  part  in 
the  turnover  of  that  establishment.  The  study  of  labor  turnover 
embraces  the  study  of  the  causes  and  effects  of  every  termination 
of  employment  and  the  means  of  preventing  such  terminations  as 
are  socially  undesirable."  Labor  turnover  is  measured  in  terms  of 
the  ratio  of  those  who  leave  their  employment  in  a  given  period — 
usually  assumed  to  be  a  year  unless  otherwise  stated — to  the  average 
number  who  have  been  on  the  active  pay  roll  during  the  same  period. 
In  any  careful  consideration  of  this  subject,  it  is  necessary  to  distin- 
guish between  normal  and  abnormal  turnover.  According  to  D.  D. 
Lescohier,  "normal  turnover  occurs  when  workers  leave  their  employ- 
ment for  death,  serious  or  chronic  illness,  a  disabling  accident,  old 
age,  to  continue  their  education,  to  go  into  business  or  on  a  farm, 
to  accept  a  better  position  with  another  employer,  or  similar  reasons. 
Abnormal  turnover  occurs  when  the  severance  of  employment  is 
due  to  such  causes  as  careless  methods  of  hiring,  discharging,  and 
handling  men;  to  wages  offered  by  competing  establishments;  to 
unhealthy  or  disagreeable  shop  conditions;  unfair  systems  of  com- 
puting or  paying  wages ;  the  wanderlust  of  workers;  the  unreliability 
or  unsteadiness  of  employees,  the  excessive  fluctuation  of  labor 
demand,  and  the  LABOR  SUPPLY.  Such  turnover  seriously  decreases 
national  production;  wastes  and  destroys  labor  power;  prevents  a 
large  part  of  our  labor  force  from  developing  that  efficiency  which 

[291] 


is  possible  to  it;  increases  UNEMPLOYMENT  and  UNDER-EMPLOYMENT; 
and  impairs  the  quality  of  the  man  (and  woman)  power  of  the  coun- 
try." It  is  estimated  by  the  same  writer  that  "fully  half  our  labor 
passes  through  our  industries  rather  than  into  them."  The  reduc- 
tion of  labor  turnover  is  perhaps  the  chief  problem  that  EMPLOYMENT 
MANAGEMENT  has  to  deal  with.  (See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR;  JOB 
ANALYSIS;  FORCE  REPORT.) 

Labor  Union.  As  commonly  used  today,  a  generic  term 
denoting  any  organization  of  wage-earners.  At  one  time  it  designated 
a  certain  form  of  association,  usually  idealistic  or  humanitarian  in 
its  purposes,  which  included  workers  in  all  crafts  and  occupations 
in  a  given  locality,  employers  and  professional  men  being  sometimes 
admitted  as  well.  This  type  of  labor  organization  was  comparatively 
short  lived,  although  the  INDUSTRIAL  UNION  of  today  embodies  some 
of  its  principal  characteristics.  The  present-day  FEDERAL  LABOR 
UNION,  in  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  is  in  many  respects 
a  small-scale  exemplification  of  this  type.  (See  TRADE  UNION.) 

Labor  Unrest.     See  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST. 

Labor's  Memorial  Day.  As  fixed  by  the  AMERICAN  FEDERA- 
TION OF  LABOR  in  1911,  this  is  the  fourth  Sunday  in  May.  It  is 
urged  that  upon  this  day  "the  men  and  women  of  labor  in  every 
section  of  the  country  should  meet  and  by  appropriate  ceremonies 
pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  those  who  have  gone  before  in  the  great 
work  for  humanity." 

Laborer.  In  general,  a  manual  wage-earner  of  whatever 
degree  of  skill.  Among  those  actually  engaged  in  industry,  however, 
the  term  is  most  commonly  used  in  designation  of  an  unskilled 
worker.  In  certain  trades,  the  unskilled  or  semi-skilled  assistant  to  a 
JOURNEYMAN  is  termed  a  laborer,  although  HELPER  is  the  more  com- 
mon designation. 

Laborism.  Belief  in  the  paramount  rights  of  labor  and  in 
the  central  importance  of  the  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Laborists.  Members  of  working-class  organizations,  or  advo- 
cates of  the  rights  of  labor. 

Laborites.  In  British  politics,  members  of  the  BRITISH  LABOR 
PARTY  are  so  called. 

Laissez  Faire.  In  its  economic  sense,  this  term  denotes  a 
policy  by  which  the  State  refrains  from  any  interference  with  the 

[292] 


liberty  of  every  individual  to  dispose  of  his  time  and  labor  in  the 
way  and  on  the  terms  which  he  may  judge  most  conducive  to  his 
own  interest.  In  its  broader  sense,  it  denotes  a  policy  of  non-govern- 
mental interference  with  the  normal  occupations  and  desires  of  the 
people.  It  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  negation  of  all  legislative 
activity,  but  may  be  legitimately  interpreted  in  the  English  sense  of 
maintaining  fair  play  and  keeping  a  clear  field  for  the  combatants. 
Laissez  faire  is  founded  on  the  i8th  century  doctrine  of  Jus  Natur&, 
or  "law  of  nature" — the  natural  arrangement  and  order  of  things 
which  man  was  continually  spoiling  by  his  artificial  interference  and 
regulation.  With  specific  reference  to  industrial  affairs,  the  laissez 
faire  philosophy  has  been  thus  stated  by  Professor  Hobhouse: 
"Maintain  external  order,  suppress  violence,  assure  men  in  the 
possession  of  their  property,  and  enforce  the  fulfillment  of  contracts, 
and  the  rest  will  go  of  itself.  Each  man  will  be  guided  by  self-interest, 
but  interest  will  lead  him  along  the  lines  of  greatest  productivity. 
If  all  artificial  barriers  are  removed,  he  will  find  the  occupation  which 
best  suits  his  capacities,  and  this  will  be  the  occupation  in  which 
he  will  be  most  productive,  and  therefore,  socially,  most  valuable. 
He  will  have  to  sell  his  goods  to  a  willing  purchaser,  therefore  he 
must  devote  himself  to  the  production  of  things  which  others  need 
— things,  therefore,  of  social  value.  He  will,  by  preference,  make 
that  for  which  he  can  obtain  the  highest  price,  and  this  will  be  that 
for  which,  at  the  particular  time  and  place,  and  in  relation  to  his 
particular  capacities,  there  is  the  greatest  need.  He  will,  again, 
find  the  employer  who  will  pay  him  best,  and  that  will  be  the  employer 
to  whom  he  can  do  the  best  service.  Self-interest,  if  enlightened 
and  unfettered,  will,  in  short,  lead  him  to  conduct  coincident  with 
public  interest."  (See  INDIVIDUALISM.) 

Land  Question.  "The  denial  of  access  to  land  and  natural 
resources  even  when  they  are  unused  and  unproductive,  except  at 
a  price  and  under  conditions  which  are  practically  prohibitive," 
was  stated  in  the  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUS- 
TRIAL RELATIONS  to  be  the  second  principal  cause  of  UNEMPLOYMENT 
in  the  United  States.  In  remedy  of  this  condition  the  following 
"basic  suggestions"  were  submitted:  "(i)  Vigorous  and  unrelenting 
prosecution  to  regain  all  land,  water  power  and  mineral  rights  secured 
from  the  Government  by  fraud.  (2)  A  general  revision  of  our  land 
laws,  so  as  to  apply  to  all  future  land  grants  the  doctrine  of  'superior 
use,'  as  in  the  case  of  water  rights  in  California,  and  the  provision 
for  forfeiture  in  case  of  actual  nonuse.  In  its  simplest  form  the 
20  [  293  J 


doctrine  of  'superior  use'  implies  merely  that  at  the  time  of  making 
the  lease  the  purpose  for  which  the  land  will  be  used  must  be  taken 
into  consideration,  and  the  use  which  is  of  greatest  social  value 
shall  be  given  preference.  (3)  The  forcing  of  all  unused  land  into  use 
by  making  the  tax  on  nonproductive  land  the  same  as  on  productive 
land  of  the  same  kind,  and  exempting  all  improvements."  Adherents 
of  the  SINGLE  TAX  doctrine  consider  the  land  question,  or  the  private 
monopolization  of  land  values,  to  be  intimately  related  not  only  to 
unemployment  but  to  nearly  all  other  phases  of  the  LABOR  PROBLEM. 
(See  AGRARIANISM.) 

Landsorganisation  i  Sverge.  This  national  federation  of 
Swedish  trade  unions,  formed  in  1899,  is  the  leading  labor  body  of 
Sweden.  In  1909  it  included  twenty-seven  national  craft  federations, 
with  162,000  members.  In  June,  1920,  the  membership  had  increased 
to  280,987.  From  the  first  there  has  been  a  close  alliance  between 
the  Landsorganisation  and  the  Socialdemokratiska  Arbetare-Partiet 
(Social  Democratic  Labor  Party),  which  was  formally  organized  in 
1889  and  is  the  majority  party  in  the  lower  government  chamber. 
Dislike  of  this  alliance  led  to  the  beginning  of  the  syndicalist  move- 
ment, which  has  continued  to  be  an  important  phase  of  Swedish 
trade  unionism.  The  number  of  members  in  the  syndicalist  organi- 
zation was  24,000  in  1919.  Both  the  Federation  and  the  other  unions 
suffered  severely  from  the  effects  of  the  great  general  strike  of  1909, 
the  membership  of  the  Federation  falling  as  low  as  80,000  by  1912. 
The  labor  movement  in  Sweden  is  confronted  with  powerful  organi- 
zations of  the  employers.  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  is  highly  devel- 
oped, and  wage  agreements  are  usually  made  on  a  national  scale. 

Language  Branch  or  Language  Local.  A  type  of  LOCAL 
or  SUB-LOCAL  which  is  found  (or  was  formerly  found)  in  certain 
American  national  or  international  labor  organizations — as  for  ex- 
ample, the  longshoremen's,  the  carpenters',  and  the  miners'  unions, 
and  the  INTERNATIONAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD — where  the 
diversity  of  foreign-born  workers  makes  necessary  a  grouping  of 
local  union  members  on  the  basis  of  the  common  language  spoken. 

Lapsed  Member.  Usually  a  trade  union  member  who  has  been 
suspended  for  failure  to  pay  membership  dues,  fines,  assessments, 
or  other  indebtedness  to  the  union. 

Large -Scale  Production.  The  rather  indefinite  connotations 
of  this  term,  as  used  in  designation  of  one  of  the  main  characteristics 
of  modern  INDUSTRIALISM,  are  thus  summarized  in  L.  C.  Marshall's 

[294] 


"Readings  in  Industrial  Society":  "Sometimes  it  means  that  an 
individual  plant  (whether  manufacturing,  agricultural,  or  commercial) 
utilizes  a  large  amount  of  capital  (and  perhaps  of  labor  and  land). 
In  certain  lines  of  industry,  this  tendency  is  so  marked  that  there 
has  been  an  actual  diminution  in  the  number  of  separate  plants, 
although  there  has  been  a  tremendous  increase  in  output.  .  .  .  Some- 
times large-scale  production  means  that  the  massing  of  capital 
(and  perhaps  labor  and  land)  has  occurred  in  the  form  of  bringing 
about  a  single  management  of  several  plants  of  the  same  kind, 
each  of  which  may  or  may  not  have  reached  the  size  of  maximum 
efficiency.  Some  writers  refer  to  this  as  'horizontal  combination.' 
.  .  .  Finally,  large-scale  production  may  refer  to  what  is  known  as 
'integration  of  industry'  or  'vertical  combination,'  which  unites 
under  one  management  consecutive  processes  which  have  formerly 
been  conducted  in  independent  establishments." 

Lay -Off  System.  In  the  labor  vernacular,  to  "lay  off"  a 
worker  is  to  dismiss  him  from  employment.  Generally,  though  not 
always,  the  term  denotes  temporary  rather  than  permanent  dis- 
missal. In  certain  industries  particularly  subject  to  SEASONAL 
FLUCTUATIONS,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  trade  union  to  insist  upon  a 
clause  in  its  agreement  with  the  employer  providing  for  a  systematic 
plan  of  temporarily  "laying  off"  employees,  so  that  UNEMPLOYMENT 
will  be  evenly  and  fairly  distributed  during  the  slack  season.  Such 
a  plan  is  usually  called  a  "lay-off  system." 

Lazy  Strike.    See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 

Lead  Laws.  Legislation,  enacted  in  nearly  all  European 
countries  and  in  half  a  dozen  prominent  states  of  this  country, 
governing  the  use  of  lead  in  industrial  trades,  so  as  to  prevent  poison- 
ing or  other  injury  to  the  worker.  Such  laws  usually  require  periodic 
examinations  of  workers  in  the  more  dangerous  lead  trades.  The  use 
of  white  lead  in  painting  is  now  partially  or  wholly  prohibited  in  some 
European  countries. 

Leader.     See  SPEEDING  UP. 

League  of  Nations  and  Labor.  See  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR 
ORGANIZATION;  GENERAL  LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF 
NATIONS;  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR  OFFICE;  LABOR  PLATFORM  OF 
THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS. 

League  of  Women  Workers.  See  NATIONAL  LEAGUE  OF 
WOMEN  WORKERS. 

[295] 


Learner.  In  an  industrial  sense,  one  who  is  learning  a  trade 
while  working  at  it,  usually  under  the  direction  of  a  JOURNEYMAN, 
and  receiving  a  small  rate  of  compensation.  The  term  is  sometimes 
applied  to  an  APPRENTICE  or  an  IMPROVER,  but  it  is  more  often  used 
in  those  trades  where  the  apprenticeship  system  does  not  exist. 

Lease  System  of  Convict  Labor.  Under  this  system  convicts 
are  leased  to  contractors  for  specified  sums  and  for  fixed  periods 
of  time,  the  lessees  usually  undertaking  to  clothe,  feed,  care  for, 
and  maintain  proper  discipline  among  the  prisoners  while  they 
perform  such  labor  as  may  have  been  determined  by  the  terms  of 
the  lease.  The  labor  is  generally  performed  outside  the  prison 
walls,  and  is  rarely  employed  in  manufacturing,  but  usually  in  such 
industries  as  mining,  railroad  building,  and  agricultural  pursuits. 
Some  of  the  worst  abuses  practiced  in  connection  with  convict  labor 
are  associated  with  the  "lease  system."  (See  CONVICT  LABOR  SYS- 
TEMS: PRISON  LABOR.) 

Leaving  Certificate.  The  English  counterpart  of  the  Amer- 
ican CLEARANCE  LETTER;  a  written  statement  given  to  a  departing 
worker,  in  which  the  employer  states  the  reason  or  reasons  why  the 
employee  is  leaving.  The  leaving  certificate  appears  in  British  indus- 
trial history  at  least  as  early  as  1697,  when  no  employing  master  in 
the  London  hatters  trade  would  take  on  a  new  journeyman  who  did 
not  bring  with  him  a  satisfactory  leaving  certificate  from  his  previous 
employer.  Like  the  clearance  letter,  the  leaving  certificate  is  often 
used  to  BLACKLIST  an  "undesirable"  worker.  Also  variously  known 
as  "quittance  paper,"  "character  note,"  and  "character." 

Left,  Left  Wing.  Terms  commonly  applied  to  that  group  or 
element  in  any  movement  or  body  of  persons  which  represents  the 
most  RADICAL  opinion  and  policies.  Thus,  the  "left-wing  socialists" 
or  "socialists  of  the  left"  form  the  revolutionary  section  of  the 
socialist  movement.  They  advocate  DIRECT  ACTION  in  the  indus- 
trial field,  are  opposed  to  PARLIAMENTARISM,  and  for  the  most  part 
reject  compromise  measures.  Members  of  "the  left"  in  any  move- 
ment or  body  are  often  known  as  "revolutionaries"  or  "extremists." 
(See  IMPOSSIBILIST;  INTRANSIGENTS.) 

Legal  Aid  Benefit.  A  form  of  MUTUAL  INSURANCE  by  which 
a  trade  union  enables  its  members  to  secure  legal  assistance  in 
pressing  or  defending  a  court  action,  or  to  secure  necessary  legal 
advice.  This  form  of  BENEFIT  seems  to  exist  only  in  the  case  of  a  few 
large  British  national  unions. 

[296] 


Legal  Enactment.  The  phrase  used  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb 
in  designation  of  one  of  the  three  distinct  levers  or  instruments  with 
which  TRADE  UNIONISM  seeks  to  enforce  its  regulations — the  other 
two  being  MUTUAL  INSURANCE  and  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING.  The 
method  of  legal  enactment  is,  briefly,  the  method  of  influencing 
legislative  bodies  toward  the  enactment  of  laws  favorable  to  the 
interests  of  the  working  classes.  It  is  a  method  that  plays  a  much 
more  important  part  in  the  European  labor  movement  than  in  that 
of  the  United  States.  The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  this 
method  are  summarized  in  George  O'Brien's  "Labor  Organization" 
as  follows:  "Against  it  may  be  pleaded  the  inevitable  slowness 
with  which  legislation  progresses,  especially  in  a  country  where  the 
action  of  the  legislature  is  constantly  made  dependent  on  the  conver- 
sion of  public  opinion  to  a  certain  point  of  view.  On  this  account 
remedial  legislation  at  the  present  day  is  frequently  delayed  for  many 
years  owing  to  the  unripe  state  of  public  opinion.  Moreover,  the 
further  objection  may  be  urged  that  legal  regulation  necessarily 
lacks  precision  owing  to  the  fact  that  an  Act  of  Parliament  goes 
through  many  stages  of  amendment  at  the  hands  of  those  who  are 
expert  neither  in  the  art  of  draftsmanship  nor  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  industrial  conditions  affected.  ...  As  against  these  disadvantages 
from  which  the  method  of  legal  enactment  suffers  it  enjoys  certain 
advantages.  In  the  first  place  it  secures  uniformity,  or  in  other 
words,  that  all  employers  are  bound  by  the  same  regulations  quite 
irrespective  of  the  strategical  strength  of  the  workmen's  organiza- 
tions which  stand  opposed  to  them.  Moreover,  it  avoids  waste  and 
friction,  inasmuch  as  it  is  imposed  on  the  trade  by  an  outside  author- 
ity, and  has  not  to  be  arrived  at  as  collective  agreements  frequently 
have  after  the  waste,  extravagance,  and  suffering  of  a  prolonged 
strike.  Lastly,  it  has  the  supreme  advantage  over  the  method  of 
collective  bargaining  that  it  is  equally  powerful  to  protect  the  weak 
workmen  as  well  as  the  strong."  (See  POLITICAL  ACTION;  LABOR 
LEGISLATION;  SANITATION  AND  SAFETY;  NORMAL  DAY.) 

Legislation.    See  LABOR  LEGISLATION. 

Legislative  Committee.  As  maintained  by  some  of  the  more 
important  American  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNIONS  and 
by  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  this  is  a  committee 
which  endeavors  to  secure  the  enactment  by  Congress  of  pro- 
posed legislation  in  the  interests  of  labor,  and  to  look  after  labor 
interests  in  connection  with  other  legislation  before  Congress.  This 
committee  may  be  made  up  of  members  of  the  executive  council, 

[297] 


or  it  may  be  a  special  committee  elected  by  the  convention  at  its 
annual  session.  In  the  case  of  the  elected  committee  one  member 
will  be  designated  as  chairman.  It  will  be  his  duty  to  be  present  at 
the  capital  during  the  entire  session  of  the  legislature  to  watch  the 
interests  of  the  laborers  in  the  bills  before  the  session  and  to  call 
in  his  associates  when  needed.  A  similar  function  in  connection  with 
state  and  municipal  legislative  bodies  is  performed  by  the  STATE 

FEDERATIONS  OF  LABOR  and  the  CITY  CENTRALS.      (See  LABOR  LOBBY.) 

Leitch  Plan.  As  formulated  by  John  Leitch,  an  industrial 
management  expert,  this  is  a  plan  of  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION 
which  provides  for  the  formation  in  large  industrial  plants  of  a  sys- 
tem of  "government"  patterned  directly  after  that  of  the  United 
States.  The  executive  officers  of  the  industry  form  the  "cabinet," 
which  is  primarily  an  executive  body  with  veto  powers.  The  ' '  senate ' ' 
is  made  up  of  foremen,  departmental  heads,  and  under-executives. 
The  "house  of  representatives"  is  elected  by  secret  ballot  by  the 
whole  body  of  workers.  This  joint  organization  holds  regular  meet- 
ings for  the  discussion  of  general  policy,  the  formulation  of  more 
efficient  or  economical  production  methods,  the  adjustment  of  work- 
ers' grievances,  etc.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY.) 

Lemieux  Act.  See  CANADIAN  INDUSTRIAL  DISPUTES  INVES- 
TIGATION ACT. 

Lenin's  Twenty-One  Conditions.  At  the  second  congress 
of  the  COMMUNIST  INTERNATIONALE,  held  at  Moscow  in  July,  1920, 
there  was  drawn  up  a  list  of  twenty-one  conditions  which  political 
labor  groups  wishing  to  adhere  to  the  third  Internationale  must 
fulfill.  These  conditions  are  of  the  most  drastic  character,  requiring 
the  purging  from  affiliated  organizations  of  all  REFORMIST  and  "cen- 
trist" elements,  the  changing  of  party  names  from  "socialist"  to 
"communist,"  active  warfare  against  all  capitalistic  institutions,  full 
support  of  the  Soviet  Republic,  and  various  other  matters  of  similar 
uncompromising  nature.  These  conditions  are  variously  known  as 
"Lenin's  twenty-one  conditions,"  the  "twenty-one  articles  of 
faith,"  the  "Moscow  conditions,"  etc. 

Lever  Act.  A  piece  of  war-time  legislation  enacted  by  Con- 
gress in  August,  1917,  its  avowed  purpose  being  "to  provide  further 
for  the  national  security  and  defense  by  encouraging  the  produc- 
tion, conserving  the  supply,  and  controlling  the  distribution  of 
food  products  and  fuel."  Drastic  and  far-reaching  powers  to  fix 
prices,  take  over  and  operate  plants,  and  otherwise  control  produc- 
ts ] 


tion,  distribution,  and  consumption,  were  given  to  the  President 
under  this  legislation.  Notwithstanding  repeated  assurances  that 
the  Act  would  not  be  used  as  an  anti-strike  weapon  in  the  legitimate 
efforts  of  organized  labor,  it  was  made  the  basis  for  a  sweeping 
Federal  INJUNCTION  against  officers  of  the  United  Mine  Workers 
in  November,  1919,  and  the  national  strike  of  coal-miners  was  thus 
broken.  Somewhat  more  than  a  year  later  the  Supreme  Court  held 
that  the  Act  provided  no  effectual  basis  for  prosecution  of  coal 
OPERATORS  and  other  employers  on  the  charge  of  war-time  profiteering. 

Lib -Labs.  A  popular  nickname  for  those  who  support  a  mix- 
ture of  LIBERAL  and  labor  policies  in  English  politics,  or  for  LABOR 
MEMBERS  in  Parliament  who  lean  toward  liberalism. 

Liberal,  Liberalism.  From  the  Latin  liber  and  liberalis,  mean- 
ing "free"  or  "befitting  a  freeman."  In  the  modern  political  sense, 
a  liberal  is  one  favorable  to  democratic  reforms  and  progressive 
measures  that  do  not  involve  fundamental  change  in  the  existing 
order  of  things.  "The  liberal,"  according  to  "The  Freeman," 
"believes  that  the  State  is  essentially  social  and  is  all  for  improving 
it  by  political  methods  so  that  it  may  function  according  to  what  he 
believes  to  be  its  original  intention.  Hence,  he  is  interested  in  poli- 
tics, takes  them  seriously,  goes  at  them  hopefully,  and  believes  in 
them  as  an  instrument  of  social  welfare  and  progress.  He  is  politically 
minded,  with  an  incurable  interest  in  reform,  putting  good  men  in 
office,  independent  administrations,  and  quite  frequently  in  third 
party  movements."  Liberalism  is  the  political  philosophy  expressive 
of  this  attitude  or  belief.  The  liberal  position  is  that  of  middle 
ground  between  the  CONSERVATIVE,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  RADICAL 
on  the  other.  (See  MANCHESTER  SCHOOL;  CENTRE;  LIB-LABS.) 

Lightning  Strike.  One  that  is  called  before  there  can  be  any 
chance  for  negotiation  or  discussion  over  differences,  the  object 
being  to  produce  a  complete  and  sudden  paralysis  of  an  industry 
or  plant,  in  the  hope  of  forcing  an  equally  summary  capitulation. 

Limitation  of  Apprentices.     See  APPRENTICESHIP. 
Limitation  of  Numbers.    See  RESTRICTION  OF  NUMBERS. 

Limitation  of  Output.  "There  has  always  been  a  strong 
tendency  among  labor  organizations,"  says  the  Report  of  the  FEDERAL 
INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION,  "to  discourage  exertion  beyond  a  certain 
limit.  The  tendency  does  not  always  express  itself  in  formal  rules. 
On  the  contrary,  it  appears  chiefly  in  the  silent,  or  at  least  informal, 

[299] 


pressure  of  working-class  opinion.  It  is  occasionally  embodied  in 
rules  which  distinctly  forbid  the  accomplishment  of  more  than  a 
fixed  amount  of  work  in  a  given  time;  but  such  regulations  are  always 
felt  by  employers,  and  almost  always  by  other  persons  who  are  not 
of  the  wage-working  class,  to  be  obviously  unjust,  short-sighted  and 
socially  injurious.  This  adverse  public  opinion  outside  the  unions 
themselves  has  doubtless  had  some  influence  in  discouraging  such 
applications  of  the  principle.  These  rules  have  not  by  any  means, 
however,  absolutely  disappeared."  A  substantially  similar  limitation 
may  be  applied,  under  the  PIECE  WORK  basis,  by  limiting  the  amount 
which  a  worker  may  earn  in  a  day  or  week.  Another  form  of  limi- 
tation is  to  forbid  the  operation  of  more  than  one  automatic  machine 
by  a  single  worker.  Limitation  of  output  is  also  accomplished 
through  trade  union  action  by  prohibiting  piece  work  and  BONUS 
SYSTEMS  ;  by  limiting  the  number  of  working  hours  per  day  or  week, 
and  restricting  OVERTIME;  and  by  regulations  in  regard  to  the  DIVI- 
SION OF  LABOR.  Such  forms  of  limitation  of  output  as  CA'  CANNY 
and  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB  are  without  trade  union  sanction,  and  are 
condemned  by  the  great  majority  of  unionists.  It  is  impossible  to 
do  more  than  merely  mention  here  the  numerous  arguments  urged 
by  trade  unionists  in  justification  of  a  deliberately  regulated  produc- 
tion. Perhaps  the  argument  most  frequently  advanced  is  that  such 
a  policy  constitutes  a  necessary  defense  against  SPEEDING  UP,  with 
its  attendant  evils  of  PRICE  CUTTING  and  OVERSTRAIN.  It  is  also 
conceived  to  be  necessary  to  prevent  a  direct  lowering  of  the  STANDARD 
RATE  of  pay.  "The  standard  rate,  whatever  terms  may  be  used 
in  stating  it,  means  at  bottom  so  much  pay  for  so  much  output. 
To  permit  individuals  to  give,  for  any  certain  payment,  a  larger 
product  than  the  standard  current  in  the  trade,  is  to  revert  at  once 
to  the  individual  bargain."  In  a  less  direct  way  limitation  of  output 
is  conceived  to  affect  wages  by  providing  work  for  the  unemployed. 
"The  competition  of  the  unemployed  is  the  great  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  raising  wages.  If  work  can  be  found  for  them,  jobs  may  be 
made  to  hunt  men  instead  of  men's  hunting  jobs.  If  those  who  are 
employed  work  excessively,  it  is  claimed,  they  selfishly  take  to  them- 
selves work  which  ought  to  be  left  for  the  less  fortunate."  Still  an- 
other economic  argument  is  based  upon  the  idea  of  OVER-PRODUCTION, 
and  is  stated  in  the  entry  under  that  heading.  The  FOSTER  REPORT, 
based  upon  an  exhaustive  investigation  of  British  industry  in  1919, 
found  four  main  factors  tending  to  limitation  of  output  on  the  work- 
ers' part,  as  follows:  "The  fear  of  UNEMPLOYMENT — which  naturally 
inclines  the  operative  to  make  his  work  last  as  long  as  possible; 

[300] 


(2)  disinclination  to  make  unrestricted  profit  for  private  employers; 

(3)  lack  of  interest  owing  to  non-participation  in  the  control  of  in- 
dustry; (4)  inefficiency,  both  managerial  and  operative."     While 
limitation  of  output  has  been  dealt  with  above  exclusively  as  a 
workers'  policy,  the  important  fact  should  not  be  overlooked  that  it 
is  even  more  generally  and  essentially  an  employers'  policy.    "The 
plain  fact,  of  course,"  as  G.  D.  H.  Cole  points  out,  "is  that,  while 
capitalist  production  for  profit  and  the  WAGE  SYSTEM  continue  to 
exist,  'restriction  of  output'  by  both  employers  and  workers  will 
also  continue,  though  it  may  occur  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.    But 
perhaps  a  moment's  reflection  will  persuade  those  who  are  now  so 
anxious  to  decry  Labor  for  its  restrictive  policy  that  the  argument 
really  cuts  both  ways,  and  that  workmen  have  at  least  as  much  jus- 
tification for  what  they  do  as  employers.    In  a  sense,  both  are  victims 
of  a  system,  and,  in  a  larger  sense,  the  community  is  still  more  a 
victim."    (See  LUMP  OF  LABOR  THEORY;  DARG;  STINT.) 

List.    See  PRICE  LIST. 

List  System.    See  LONDON  DOCK  SCHEME. 

Little  Master  or  Small  Master.  A  small-scale  employer  of 
labor,  particularly  in  industries  where  automatic  machinery  is  not 
largely  used.  He  is  usually  a  contractor,  employing  hand  labor  at 
low  wages,  long  hours,  and  under  insanitary  and  unwholesome  con- 
ditions. Also  called  "garret  master"  or  "garret  boss,"  and  "fog- 
ger."  (See  SWEATING  SYSTEM;  SWEATER;  CONTRACT  SYSTEM.) 

Liverpool  Dock  Scheme.  Like  the  LONDON  DOCK  SCHEME, 
this  is  a  systematic  effort  toward  the  DECASUALIZATION  of  dock  labor. 
As  initiated  in  1912,  every  dock  worker  in  Liverpool  was  registered 
and  given  a  metal  tally  bearing  his  registration  number,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  for  the  future  no  one  should  be  employed  without  a 
tally.  A  joint  committee,  on  which  employers  and  employees  were 
equally  represented,  was  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  issuing  fresh 
tallies  and  also  of  erecting  surplus  hiring  stands  at  certain  intervals 
along  the  docks  where  alone  extra  workers  could  be  taken  on  after 
the  regular  morning  call.  A  further  reform  was  instituted  securing 
the  payment  of  wages  through  a  central  clearing-house,  thus  making 
it  unnecessary  for  the  employee  to  travel  from  one  employer  to 
another  in  collecting  his  weekly  wages.  This  plan  is  sometimes 
referred  to  as  the  "  tally  system."  It  has  proved  effective  in  miti- 
gating the  many  evils  associated  with  CASUAL  LABOR  among  the  dock 
workers  of  Liverpool. 

[301] 


Living -In  System.  The  plan,  now  chiefly  met  with  in  DOMES- 
TIC SERVICE  but  still  common  in  British  commercial  establishments, 
under  which  employees  live  on  the  premises  where  they  work,  re- 
ceiving board  and  lodging  in  part  payment  of  wages.  It  is  essentially 
a  part  of  the  TRUCK  SYSTEM. 

Living  Levels.    See  FAMILY  BUDGET. 

Living  Wage.  As  commonly  used,  this  may  denote  either 
(i)  the  bare  minimum  necessary  to  sustain  the  vital  physical  func- 
tions of  the  wage-earner  and  his  family,  known  as  a  subsistence 
wage;  or,  (2)  such  a  minimum  plus  a  small  allowance  for  education, 
recreation,  reading  matter,  extra  clothing,  a  few  table  luxuries,  etc. 
While  the  term  is  often  used  in  connection  with  a  daily  or  weekly 
wage,  the  hazards  and  fluctuations  of  industry  are  such  that  it  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  a  given  wage  is  or  is  not  a  "living  wage" 
without  reference  to  the  yearly  aggregate  of  the  workers'  earnings. 
The  increasing  popular  acceptance  of  the  theory  that  every  worker 
should  be  guaranteed  a  "living  wage"  is  based  not  so  much  on 
altruism  or  humanity  as  on  the  common  conviction  that  "the  welfare 
of  the  community  as  a  whole  requires  that  no  section  of  workers 
should  be  reduced  to  conditions  which  are  positively  inconsistent 
with  industrial  or  civic  efficiency."  (See  COST  OF  LIVING;  STANDARD 
OP  LIVING;  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL;  MINIMUM  COMFORT 
LEVEL;  FAMILY  BUDGET;  MINIMUM  WAGE.) 

Loan  Card.  In  the  case  of  trade  unions  which  permit  mem- 
bers to  make  small  emergency  loans  from  the  union  funds,  a  member 
making  such  a  loan  is  provided  with  a  card  showing  the  date  and 
amount  of  the  loan  and  the  various  installment  repayments  until  the 
transaction  is  settled.  (See  COMBINATION  CARD.) 

Lobby.    See  LABOR  LOBBY. 

Lobster  Shift.  In  some  industries  this  term  is  applied  to 
a  special  shift  which  fills  the  interval  between  the  regular  day  and 
night  shifts.  (See  SHIFT  SYSTEM.) 

Local.  A  trade  union  of  local  character,  including  only  mem- 
bers who  live  and  work  in  one  town  or  locality,  is  commonly  so 
called  in  the  United  States.  Usually  the  local  is  a  subordinate  unit 
of  a  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNION.  The  latter  may  have 
but  one  local  in  a  city,  or  it  may  have  several.  In  the  latter  case, 
membership  is  sometimes  divided  among  the  several  locals  in  accord- 
ance with  the  different  kinds  of  work  or  the  different  kinds  of  articles 

l3°2  1 


produced  in  a  single  industry;  sometimes  according  to  sex,  color,  or 
nationality;  sometimes  for  purely  administrative  purposes,  without 
regard  to  any  of  the  above-mentioned  distinctions.  In  a  historical 
sense,  the  local  is  the  source  and  spring  of  the  whole  labor  movement. 
"It  was  by  the  alliance  of  existing  local  unions  for  mutual  encourage- 
ment and  support  that  the  great  national  organizations  came  into 
existence.  Local  unions  of  stone-cutters,  of  carpenters,  of  hatters, 
and  of  printers  existed  for  many  years  before  organization  on  a  larger 
scale  was  seriously  attempted.  Even  nowadays,  though  labor  organ- 
izations come  more  with  taking  thought  than  formerly,  and  less  as 
the  spontaneous  outgrowth  of  the  internal  conditions  of  their  trades, 
it  is  seldom  attempted  to  build  a  national  union  in  any  other  way 
than  by  uniting  existing  locals.  .  .  But  although  the  local  is  histori- 
cally the  primary  phenomenon,  and  the  national  union  is  secondary, 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  local  unions  which  exist  today,  and  a 
larger  proportion  of  those  which  from  day  to  day  come  into  exist- 
ence, are  in  fact  the  offspring  of  national  organizations.  Some  of 
the  stronger  national  unions  maintain  paid  ORGANIZERS,  who  devote 
either  the  whole  or  some  portion  of  their  time  to  travelling  from 
place  to  place,  encouraging  and  strengthening  existing  locals  of  their 
trade,  and,  where  none  exist,  establishing  them.  .  .  The  constitutions 
of  national  unions  usually  provide  that  local  unions  may  be  estab- 
lished by  not  less  than  five,  seven  (the  commonest  number),  or  ten 
workers  at  the  particular  craft  or  in  the  particular  industry  concerned. 
It  is  often  added  that  the  local  can  not  be  dissolved  so  long  as  a 
given  number  of  members,  usually  the  same  number  that  is  required 
for  establishing  the  local,  are  willing  to  retain  the  charter.  In  many 
unions,  when  a  local  already  exists  in  a  place,  its  consent  must  be 
asked  for  before  a  second  can  be  established.  If  it  objects,  however, 
the  GENERAL  EXECUTIVE  BOARD  often  has  power  to  overrule  its 
objections.  One  or  two  national  unions  never  establish  more  than 
one  local  in  a  place.  .  .  Each  local  union,  even  when  subordinate  to  a 
national  organization,  is  a  self-governing  unit.  Its  theoretical 
relation  to  the  national  body  is  similar  to  that  of  one  of  our  states 
to  the  United  States.  The  local  body  has  power  to  do  anything 
which  is  not  specifically  forbidden  in  the  national  constitution.  Rates 
of  wages  are,  of  necessity,  matters  of  local  consideration  in  a  majority 
of  trades.  Hours  of  labor  are  also  fixed  locally,  in  many  trades, 
according  to  local  conditions.  Even  the  unions  which  have  national 
laws  to  limit  hours  can  not  always  enforce  them  in  all  places,  and 
they  are  glad  to  have  hours  shortened  by  their  locals  beyond  the 
national  requirement.  The  regulation  of  APPRENTICESHIP  is  left  by 

[303] 


many  unions  to  the  locals;  and  even  when  national  rules  are  made, 
the  locals  often  make  further  restrictions.  A  few  national  unions 
fix  INITIATION  FEES  and  MEMBERSHIP  DUES,  but  in  most  cases  the 
locals  fix  them,  either  without  any  restriction  or  subject  to  a  maxi- 
mum or  a  minimum  limit.  Locals  levy  assessments  upon  their  mem- 
bers, and  inflict  fines  and  other  forms  of  DISCIPLINE.  Hardly  any 
restriction  is  placed  upon  the  power  to  collect  local  assessments, 
except  that  in  a  few  cases  it  is  forbidden  to  raise  them  to  support 
strikes  unauthorized  by  the  national  officers.  In  the  matter  of  dis- 
cipline there  is  usually  an  appeal  to  the  national  authorities,  and  a 
few  unions  forbid  the  imposition  of  a  fine  above  a  certain  amount 
without  the  approval  of  the  national  executive  board.  In  ordinary 
cases,  however,  in  most  organizations,  the  local  unions  do  what  is 
right  in  their  own  eyes."  Generally,  all  the  locals  of  a  national  union 
are  numbered,  and  each  local  is  known  by  its  particular  number — 
in  connection  with  the  name  of  the  national  organization.  The  locals 
of  some  national  unions  are  called  LODGES;  while  in  some  of  the 
RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS  they  are  known  as  DIVISIONS.  In  England 
the  common  designation  is  BRANCH,  although  "lodge"  is  frequently 
used.  In  relation  to  the  national  union,  locals  are  often  spoken  of 
as  "subordinate  unions"  (or  "subordinate  lodges,"  "subordinate 
divisions,"  etc.);  in  relation  to  one  another,  within  a  single  national 
organization,  the  term  "sister  unions"  (or  "sister  lodges")  is  the 
usual  one.  (See  FEDERAL  LABOR  UNION;  LOCAL  TRADE  UNION; 
INDEPENDENT  LOCAL;  LANGUAGE  BRANCH;  SUB-LOCAL;  TRADE 
CLUB;  SHOP  UNION;  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — LOCAL;  CITY 
CENTRAL;  DISTRICT  COUNCIL;  JOINT  COUNCIL;  TRADES  COUNCIL; 
BIG  Six.) 

Local  Autonomy.    See  AUTONOMY. 

Local  By -Laws.    See  BY-LAWS. 

Local  Central  Body.    See  CENTRAL  BODY. 

Local  Department  Councils.    See  DEPARTMENT  COUNCILS. 

Local  Label  Departments.    See  UNION  LABEL  LEAGUES. 

Local  Labor  Parties.  British  organizations  which  bring 
together  (for  effective  political  work  in  the  interest  of  labor  candi- 
dates and  measures)  local  trade  unions,  trade  union  BRANCHES, 
socialist  societies,  and  individuals  who  have  subscribed  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY.  In  some  districts  the  local 
labor  party  exists  along  with  the  local  TRADES  COUNCIL,  the  two  gen- 

[304] 


erally  working  in  cooperation.  But  when  one  or  the  other  is  missing, 
the  existent  body  usually  fulfills  some  if  not  all  of  the  functions  of 
the  other  body.  The  number  of  local  labor  parties  has  greatly 
increased  since  the  admission  in  1918  of  workers  "by  brain"  as  well 
as  "by  hand"  to  the  British  Labor  Party;  and  there  are  now  about 
one  thousand  such  organizations  affiliated  with  the  B.  L.  P.  (See 
LABOR  REPRESENTATION  COMMITTEES.) 

Local  Lodge.    See  LODGE. 

Local  Sick  Funds.    See  SICKNESS  INSURANCE. 

Local  Trade  Union.  While  any  LOCAL  of  a  national  trade 
union  is  commonly  referred  to  as  a  "local  union"  or  "local  trade 
union,"  within  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  the  latter 
term  specifically  denotes  a  directly  affiliated  body  made  up  of  workers 
in  a  single  town  or  locality  engaged  at  a  single  craft  or  industry  which 
is  not  organized  nationally.  In  places  where  there  are  not  enough 
such  workers  to  organize  a  local  trade  union,  as  many  as  there  are 
may  join  a  FEDERAL  LABOR  UNION  in  their  locality.  Both  local 
trade  unions  and  federal  trade  unions,  in  this  specific  sense,  are  char- 
tered by  and  affiliate  directly  with  the  A.  F.  of  L.,  and  this  latter 
organization  bears  the  same  relation  to  them  as  does  a  national 
or  international  union  to  its  local  branches.  Local  trade  unions 
are  designated  by  the  name  of  their  craft  and  a  number — as  for 
example,  "Slate  Workers,  No.  15178."  The  chief  purpose  of  a  local 
trade  union  is  to  recruit  and  hold  the  members  of  a  craft  or  trade 
in  a  particular  locality  until  the  formation  of  a  national  union  of 
workers  in  such  craft  or  trade  becomes  possible — in  which  case  the 
local  trade  union  passes  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  to 
that  of  the  national  union,  becoming  a  local  of  the  latter.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  workers  in  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  Porto  Rico, 
etc.,  are  organized  in  local  trade  unions  and  federal  labor  unions 
directly  affiliated  with  the  A.  F.  of  L. 

Localists.     See  FREIE  ARBEITER-UNION  DEUTSCHLANDS. 

Localization  of  Industry.  The  marked  tendency  of  specific 
industries  to  centralize  or  concentrate  within  a  certain  district,  or 
districts,  of  a  country  is  usually  so  called.  Some  of  the  various 
advantages  which  influence  the  localization  of  industries  may  be 
stated  as  follows:  (i)  Nearness  to  materials;  (2)  nearness  to  markets; 
(3)  water-power;  (4)  a  favorable  climate;  (5)  a  supply  of  labor; 
(6)  capital  available  for  investment  in  manufactures;  (7)  the  mo- 

[305] 


mentum  of  an  early  start;  (8)  the  habit  of  industrial  imitation;  (9) 
economic  advantages  of  specialized  centres.  (See  TERRITORIAL 
DIVISION  OP  LABOR;  SPECIALIZATION;  DECENTRALIZATION  OF  IN- 
DUSTRY.) 

Lockout.  The  temporary  closing  down  of  a  factory  or  an 
industry  in  order  to  force  the  workers  to  agree  to  conditions  dictated 
by  the  employing  interest,  or  in  retaliation  for  offensive  policies  or 
practices  on  the  workers'  part.  It  may  be  likened  to  a  STRIKE  on 
the  part  of  employers;  indeed  the  only  practical  difference  between 
a  strike  and  a  lockout  lies  generally  in  the  matter  of  initiative.  If  the 
employees  make  the  first  move,  it  is  a  strike;  if  the  employer  acts 
first,  it  is  a  lockout.  The  essential  point  in  either  case  is  the  matter 
in  dispute.  Recognizing  this  fact,  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of 
Labor  some  time  ago  proposed  a  new  classification  on  the  basis  of 
the  party  that  raised  the  point  about  which  the  issue  centres  or  that 
first  makes  the  demand  for  change  to  which  the  other  party  refuses 
assent.  This  eliminates  the  difference  between  "strike"  and  "lock- 
out," and  so  it  has  been  proposed  that  the  terms  be  dropped.  As 
substitutes  this  department  has  suggested  the  terms  "attack  strike" 
and  "defense  strike."  An  attack  strike  is  one  in  which  "cessation 
of  employment  results  from  a  movement  begun  in  the  first  instance 
by  the  employees";  a  defense  strike  is  one  in  which  "cessation  of 
employment  results  from  the  initiative  taken  by  the  employer  in 
making  some  change  in  the  conditions  of  employment."  This  dis- 
tinction is  reinforced  by  certain  definitions  of  "lockout"  found  in 
some  trade  union  constitutions.  Thus  the  metal  core  makers  declare 
that  the  requirement  by  an  employer  "to  sign  contracts,  or  to  work 
for  store  pay,  or  to  quit  the  union  or  the  shop,  shall  constitute  a 
lockout  if  endorsed  in  accordance  with  law";  while  the  piano  and 
organ  workers  state  that  "a  declaration  on  the  part  of  an  employer 
or  combination  of  employers  to  the  effect  that  their  employees  must 
cease  their  connection  with  the  union  or  cease  to  work,  or  any  com- 
bination entered  into  by  any  number  of  employers  for  the  purpose 
of  throwing  their  employees  out  of  employment  without  any  cause 
or  action  on  their  part,  shall  be  deemed  a  lockout."  These  and  other 
unions  do  not  consider  that  a  reduction  of  wages  constitutes  a  lockout. 

Lockwood  Committee.  The  Joint  Legislative  Housing  Com- 
mittee, created  in  1920  by  the  New  York  state  legislature,  was  so 
called  because  of  the  fact  that  State  Senator  Charles  C.  Lockwood 
was  its  chairman.  The  purpose  of  the  Committee  was  to  investi- 
gate the  reasons  for  the  high  cost  of  building  in  New  York  City. 

[306] 


Sittings  were  begun  on  October  20,  and  under  the  leadership  of 
Samuel  Untermyer,  who  volunteered  his  services  as  chief  counsel, 
many  spectacular  discoveries  were  made.  It  was  found  that  the 
building-trades  employers  and  the  building-trades  unions  had 
established  a  compact  to  eliminate  competition  on  both  sides.  It 
was  shown  that  Robert  P.  Brindell,  president  of  the  New  York 
Building  Trades  Council,  had  received  huge  sums  from  contractors 
and  others,  for  ulterior  purposes.  It  was  also  discovered  that  both 
contractors  and  building-material  firms  had  illegally  combined  to 
fix  prices  on  an  exorbitant  basis.  In  addition  to  these  findings  the 
Lockwood  Committee  exposed  the  means  by  which  the  OPEN  SHOP 
policy  of  the  steel  companies  and  of  the  National  Erectors'  Associa- 
tion had  handicapped  building  operations  in  New  York  City.  Sev- 
eral criminal  prosecutions  and  convictions  of  trade  union  officials 
(notably  that  of  Brindell)  have  already  been  based  on  the  committee's 
revelations. 

Lodge.  In  some  national  labor  organizations  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  which  are  patterned  on  masonic  or  other 
fraternal  orders,  the  central  executive  body  is  known  as  the  "grand 
lodge,"  while  the  minor  units  are  called  "local  lodges,"  "sub-lodges," 
or  "subordinate  lodges"  (in  relation  to  the  central  body)  and  "sister 
lodges"  (in  relation  to  one  another).  Subordinate  lodges  usually 
correspond  to  LOCALS  in  other  national  unions;  but  in  the  case  of 
some  of  the  American  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS,  they  do  not  embrace 
the  workers  in  a  certain  locality  but  those  employed  on  a  particular 
unit  of  a  railway  system.  The  "district  lodge"  corresponds  to  the 
usual  DISTRICT  UNION  or  DISTRICT  COUNCIL  in  national  unions  which 
have  this  form  of  organization. 

Log.     See  PRICE  LIST. 

Log  System  of  Rate -Making.  As  followed  in  the  garment- 
making  trades,  the  "log  system"  is  a  plan  of  fixing  PIECE  WORK 
rates  which  involves  the  subdivision  of  the  garment  into  parts  for 
rate-making  purposes  and  the  setting  of  a  rate  on  each  specific  part. 
The  rate,  as  far  as  practicable,  is  based  upon  the  number  of  labor 
hours  consumed  in  the  making  of  the  specific  part.  The  final  piece 
rate  paid  is  the  equivalent  of  the  number  of  labor  hours  multiplied 
by  the  standard  hourly  rate  of  pay  for  the  particular  kind  of  work. 
The  advantage  of  the  log  system  consists  in  the  fact  that  changes 
in  style  (which  very  frequently  amount  only  to  changes  in  details) 
do  not  involve  a  reappraisal  of  the  entire  garment,  but  only  of  cer- 
tain parts  of  it. 

[307] 


London  Dock  Scheme.  An  attempt  toward  the  DECASUAL- 
IZATION  of  dock  labor,  sometimes  called  the  "list  system."  Under 
this  plan,  every  dock  worker  is  classified  in  one  of  four  groups,  as 
follows:  (i)  Permanent  laborers,  with  a  guaranteed  weekly  wage; 

(2)  registered  or  "A"  men,  also  with  a  guaranteed  weekly  wage; 

(3)  preference  or  "B"  men,  with  a  guaranteed  hourly  wage;  (4) 
second  preference,  or  "C"  men  (the  "casuals"),  at  the  same  rate  as 
the  "B  "  men.    The  upper  classes  are  recruited  from  the  best  of  the 
classes  below.     For  the  purposes  of  employment  the  entire  dock 
system  is  divided  into  five  "controls,"  which  are  subdivided  into 
forty-five  departments.    A  certain  number  of  "B "  men  are  assigned 
to  each  department.    Daily  reports  of  men  available  or  required  in 
each  class  are  made  by  the  head  of  each  department  to  the  super- 
intendent of  the  dock,  and  on  the  basis  of  these  reports  the  labor 
supply  is  distributed  for  the  following  day.     (See  LIVERPOOL  DOCK 
SCHEME.) 

Long  Turn.  It  has  for  many  years  been  customary  for  large 
numbers  of  workers  in  the  American  steel  industry  to  work  twelve 
hours  a  day,  often  for  seven  days  a  week.  This  makes  it  possible 
to  carry  on  continuous  operations  with  only  two  shifts  of  workers. 
When  the  shifts  are  changed  or  "rotated" — that  is  to  say,  when  the 
day  workers  go  on  night  duty,  and  vice  versa — one  of  the  groups 
or  shifts  is  required  to  put  in  what  is  called  the  "long  turn"  of 
twenty-four  hours'  continuous  duty.  For  example,  if  the  shifts  are 
changed  on  Sunday  night,  those  who  have  been  on  the  day  shift 
work  all  day  Sunday  and  all  Sunday  night,  and  the  former  night 
shift  then  starts  in  Monday  morning  on  the  day  shift.  In  some 
plants  the  odd  twelve  hours  to  be  filled  in  when  shifts  are  changed 
is  divided  among  the  two  shifts,  so  that  each  group  works  eighteen 
hours  instead  of  one  group  working  twenty-four.  However,  the 
net  gain  to  the  man  who  puts  in  eighteen  hours  of  consecutive  work 
once  a  week,  instead  of  twenty-four  hours  once  every  two  weeks,  is 
not  readily  apparent.  The  "long  turn,"  like  all  other  barbaric  sur- 
vivals in  industry,  can  of  course  only  be  forced  upon  workers  who 
are  wholly  or  largely  unorganized — as  is  the  case  with  the  steel 
workers.  (See  SHIFT  SYSTEM.) 

Longshoremen.  While  this  term  properly  refers  to  all  classes 
of  dock  or  wharf  labor,  including  skilled  mechanics  and  engineers, 
it  more  commonly  denotes  the  unskilled  workers  engaged  in  loading 
and  unloading  vessels — the  class  usually  known  in  England  as 
DOCKERS.  (See  STEVEDORE  SYSTEM;  DOCK  WOLLOPERS;  SHENAN- 
GOES;  SHAPE.) 

[308] 


Loyal  Legion  of  Loggers  and  Lumbermen.  The  origin  and 
nature  of  this  organization  are  explained  in  the  1920  report  of  the 
NATURALIZATION  BUREAU  as  follows:  "During  the  war  great  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  getting  out  spruce  from  the  northwest 
woods  for  use  in  aeroplane  production.  So  much  opposition  was  en- 
countered from  those  who  endeavored  to  obstruct  the  Government 
in  its  successful  prosecution  of  the  war  that  it  became  necessary 
to  organize  patriotic  employers  and  employees  of  the  logging  and 
lumbering  industry  to  combat  this  menace.  Thus,  with  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  War  Department,  the  Loyal  Legion  of  Loggers  and 
Lumbermen  came  into  being  [in  the  summer  of  1917].  Primarily 
established  to  promote  unity  of  interest  and  efficiency  in  the  rapidity 
of  output  to  help  win  the  war,  the  organization  was  found  to  be 
of  such  great  value  to  both  employer  and  employee  that  it  was  con- 
tinued as  mutually  beneficial  after  hostilities  ceased.  The  'Four-L's' 
organization,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  requires  all  its  members  to 
be  American  citizens  or  to  have  declared  their  intention  to  become 
such.  Its  territory  includes  the  States  of  Washington,  Oregon, 
Idaho,  and  Montana,  throughout  which  approximately  500  locals 
have  been  organized."  Made  up  as  it  is  of  both  employers  and  work- 
ers, the  "Four-L's"  is  not  a  labor  organization  in  the  usual  sense  of 
that  term.  Its  most  obvious  purpose  is  to  serve  as  a  back-fire  to  the 
I.  W.  W.  movement. 

Luddites.  Riotous  bands  of  manual  workers  in  England 
who,  in  1811-16,  under  some  sort  of  organization,  went  about  des- 
troying textile  machinery  and  sometimes  wrecking  factories.  The 
centre  of  the  Luddite  movement  was  at  Nottingham,  though  it 
extended  in  varying  degree  throughout  most  of  the  country. 

Lumberjack.  Nickname  for  a  laborer  employed  in  large- 
scale  lumbering  operations. 

Lump  of  Labor  Theory.  A  kind  of  antithesis  to  the  WAGE 
FUND  THEORY,  which  trade  unionists  sometimes  urge  in  defending 
the  policy  of  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT.  Roughly  speaking,  from  the 
worker's  point  of  view,  there  is  a  fairly  definite  amount  of  labor  to 
be  performed  at  any  given  time,  irrespective  of  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion or  the  selling  price  of  the  product.  If  the  pace  of  production 
is  voluntarily  slackened,  a  larger  number  of  workers  will  be  required. 
Thus,  SOLDIERING  or  working  below  the  normal  standard  of  efficiency 
is  justified  on  the  ground  that  the  total  volume  of  employment  is 
thereby  increased,  with  resulting  advantage  to  the  labor  group  as  a 
whole.  This  is  sometimes  called  the  "work  fund  theory";  while  a 

[309! 


more  detailed  and  "scientific"  elaboration  of  the  same  idea  is  known 
as  the  "fixed  group  demand  theory." 

Lumper,  Lumping,  Lump -Work.  In  certain  trades,  par- 
ticularly the  various  building  industries,  the  term  "lumper"  is 
applied  to  a  sub-contractor  who  takes  over  a  part  of  the  work  from 
the  regular  contractor,  and  agrees  to  do  this  work  for  a  specified 
lump  sum  within  a  specified  time.  This  process  is  known  as  "lump- 
ing," and  the  work  thus  taken  over  is  called  "lump-work"  or  "esti- 
mate work."  "The  sub-contractors  are  likely  to  be  small  employers 
of  little  standing  in  the  trade,  or  a  group  of  JOURNEYMEN  who  have 
formed  a  permanent  or  temporary  partnership,  and  who  intend  to 
work  the  job  themselves,  and  hope  to  make  an  added  profit  by  the 
violation  of  union  rules."  Trade  union  hostility  is  rapidly  causing 
the  "lump-work"  system  to  disappear.  (See  SUB-CONTRACTING.) 

Lusker,  Lusking.  Slang  terms  derived  from  the  name  of 
C.  R.  Lusk,  a  state  senator  of  New  York  who  in  1919-20  headed  a 
state  legislative  committee  for  investigating  socialist  and  radical 
activities.  In  socialistic  parlance,  "lusking"  is  the  pursuance  of 
inquisitorial  and  terroristic  methods  in  dealing  with  social  reform 
movements;  and  a  "lusker"  is  any  public  official  who  pursues  such 
methods. 

Luxemburg  Trade  Union  Commission.  See  COMMISSION 
SYNDICALE  DE  LUXEMBOURG. 

Lying -in -Benefits.    See  MATERNITY  INSURANCE. 


M 


Machine  Question.  In  industry,  the  adoption  of  machinery 
which  supersedes  hand  production,  or  of  improved  machinery  or 
improved  technical  processes  which  supersede  old  methods,  invari- 
ably opens  up  many  sources  of  conflict  not  only  between  the  workers 
and  their  employer  but  between  one  union  and  another.  A  new 
DIVISION  OF  LABOR  is  usually  involved;  new  wage  scales  must  be 
formulated;  many  skilled  workers  may  find  their  occupation  gone; 
questions  over  the  right  of  different  unions  to  JURISDICTION  over  the 
new  process  or  operation  generally  arise.  With  specific  reference 
to  the  relations  between  employers  and  workers,  the  introduction 
of  new  machinery  or  processes  makes  necessary  the  formulation  of 
a  new  policy  on  the  part  of  the  trade  union  involved,  and  this  policy 
must  be  harmonized  with  the  employer's  plans.  "Thus  it  must  be 
decided  whether  or  not  the  union  shall  oppose  the  new  process. 
If  unopposed,  shall  the  union  maintain  control  over  it,  and  to  what 
extent,  if  any,  shall  the  union  profit  by  it?  Shall  the  men  receive 
all  of  the  benefit  resulting  from  economies  in  the  new  process;  or 
shall  they  receive  a  part,  and  if  so,  what  part;  or,  shall  all  of  the 
benefit  go  to  the  employer;  or,  where  the  new  process  results  in  the 
lessening  of  the  skill  required  by  the  workmen,  shall  the  latter  sub- 
mit to  an  actual  reduction  in  wages  ?"  While  these  questions  are  often 
amicably  settled  by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  they  occasionally  lead 
to  long  and  bitter  struggles.  "It  is  probably  not  far  wrong  to  say  that 
trade  unionists  universally  regard  the  introduction  of  new  machinery 
as  a  misfortune.  With  the  possible  exception  of  a  very  few  indus- 
tries, like  cotton  manufacture,  in  which  machine  production  has 
already  been  long  and  highly  developed,  a  new  machine  always  ap- 
pears to  the  workingman  as  a  displacer  of  men,  a  creator  of  UNEM- 
PLOYMENT, a  depresser  of  wages.  Trade  union  leaders,  even  when 
they  express  their  acceptance  of  the  advance  of  machine  production 
as  a  necessary  feature  of  social  progress,  usually  manifest  the  feeling 
that,  if  it  is  not  inevitably  at  the  expense  of  the  workingman,  it  at 
least  increases  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  his  economic  position. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  any  union  which  felt  strong  enough  to  keep 

[311] 


machinery  out  of  its  trade  ever  submitted  without  a  contest  to  the 
introduction  of  it. "  But  organized  labor  has  learned  by  costly  experi- 
ence the  futility  of  fighting  against  the  machine  as  such;  and  such 
difficulties  as  now  arise  belong  for  the  most  part  in  the  realm  of  wage 
adjustments,  the  division  of  labor,  and  trade  union  jurisdiction. 
The  unions  that  have  fared  best  in  their  dealings  with  machinery 
are  those  that  have  frankly  and  promptly  recognized  the  inevitable- 
ness  of  it,  and  have  devoted  their  energies,  not  to  the  hopeless  task 
of  preventing  the  use  of  it,  but  to  regulating  the  manner  of  use. 
(See  DILUTION  OF  LABOR;  TWO-MACHINE  SYSTEM;  INTRODUCTION 
OF  NEW  PROCESSES.) 

McNamara  Case.  An  historic  episode  in  American  labor 
annals.  In  1911  J.  J.  McNamara,  Secretary  of  the  International 
Association  of  Bridge  and  Structural  Iron  Workers,  and  his  brother, 
J.  B.  McNamara,  were  indicted  and  tried  on  a  charge  of  dynamiting 
the  Los  Angeles  "Times"  building,  which  resulted  in  a  heavy  loss 
of  life.  Under  the  impression  that  the  case  was  a  "frame-up,"  wide 
interest  was  aroused  in  labor  circles  and  a  large  fund  was  collected 
to  support  the  defendants.  Conservative  labor  leaders  who  had 
rallied  to  the  McNamaras'  cause  were  thrown  into  confusion  by  the 
defendants'  confession  of  guilt,  which  led  to  a  life  sentence  for  one 
brother  and  a  long  term  imprisonment  for  the  other.  (See  VIOLENCE 
IN  THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Madras  Labor  Union.    See  INDIA,  LABOR  ORGANIZATION  IN. 

Magna  Charta  of  Labor.  See  LABOR  PLATFORM  OF  THE 
LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS. 

Maisons  des  Ouvriers.  As  found  in  some  of  the  larger  French 
industrial  centres,  these  are  buildings  which  serve  as  headquarters 
for  all  local  or  regional  trade  union  activities.  They  are  usually 
built  and  maintained  by  the  local  BOURSES  DU  TRAVAIL. 

Maisons  du  Peuple.  In  Belgium  and  France,  cooperative 
bakeries  and  distributive  societies,  including  thousands  of  workmen 
of  every  calling.  A  part  of  their  profits  is  returned  to  the  individual 
consumers  in  the  form  of  checks  exchangeable  for  bread  or  other 
articles,  part  is  reserved  for  educational,  propagandist,  and  political 
purposes;  and  part  is  returned  to  employees  as  a  dividend  on  wages. 

Malingering  or  Molingery.  In  an  industrial  sense,  the 
feigning  of  illness  or  disability  by  an  individual  worker,  in  order 


to  secure  the  advantage  of  sick  BENEFITS,  accident  compensation, 
etc.,  or  in  order  to  shirk  a  required  task  while  on  duty.  One  who  thus 
feigns  or  shams  illness  is  a  "malingerer."  All  trade  unions  that  pay 
sick  or  disability  benefits  have  more  or  less  stringent  methods  for  the 
detection  of  malingering.  Thus,  the  constitution  of  the  Iron  Hold- 
ers' Union  provides  that  sick  members  must  be  visited  each  week 
by  a  "sick  committee"  of  at  least  two  persons,  and  the  findings 
of  the  committee  must  be  reported  at  the  regular  meeting  of  the  union. 
A  local  union  may  also  provide  in  its  BY-LAWS  that  a  physician's 
certificate  shall  be  furnished  before  sick  benefits  are  paid.  (See 
WAITING  PERIOD.) 

Mais.  Members  of  amalgamated  societies  or  associations  are 
often  thus  nicknamed  in  England. 

Malthusianism.  The  doctrine  set  forth  by  T.  R.  Malthus  in 
his  "Essay  on  the  Principle  of  Population"  (1798),  to  the  effect 
that  population  tends  to  outstrip  the  available  food  supply  in  the 
absence  of  such  positive  checks  as  war,  famine,  poverty,  and  disease, 
or  such  negative  checks  as  celibacy  and  moral  restraint.  The  so- 
called  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES  was  largely  based  upon  this  theory; 
and  in  conjunction  with  the  WAGE  FUND  THEORY  it  was  once  a  favorite 
argument  directed  toward  exposing  the  futility  of  working-class 
efforts  to  raise  wages  through  organization  and  combination.  Op- 
ponents of  trade  unions,  say  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  long  delighted  in 
pointing  out  that  "if  combination  were  for  a  time  to  raise  wages, 
the  growth  of  the  wage-fund  would  be  unnaturally  retarded,  whilst 
a  fictitious  stimulus  would  be  given  to  population  by  the  momentary 
enrichment  of  the  laboring  class.  A  diminished  demand  for  labor 
would  coincide  with  an  increased  supply.  The  laborer's  wages  would 
be  forced  down  to  starvation-point ;  and  his  last  state  would  be  worse 
than  his  first."  Malthusianism,  or  the  "population  principle"  as  it 
is  sometimes  called,  now  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  the  economic 
"discard." 

Management  Sharing.     See  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION. 

Manchester  Building  Guild.  A  recently  formed  federation 
of  the  organized  building  trades  of  Manchester,  England,  which 
has  concluded  arrangements  to  erect  a  number  of  houses  for  that 
municipality.  The  guild  will  give  a  definite  estimate  of  the  cost  for 
each  type  of  house  to  be  built,  which  must  be  approved  by  the  local 
authority  and  the  national  Ministry  of  Health.  The  guild  will 
receive  a  lump  sum  of  £40  ($195,  par)  per  house,  plus  six  per  cent 

[313] 


of  the  "prime  cost"  of  the  house.  The  Cooperative  Wholesale 
Society  is  to  supply  the  materials,  and  the  Cooperative  Insurance 
Society  is  guaranteeing  the  ability  of  the  Manchester  Guild  to  com- 
plete its  contracts.  A  guild  similar  to  the  Manchester  Guild  is  being 
formed  in  the  London  building  trades. 

Mandatory  Injunction.  As  occasionally  issued  in  labor 
disputes,  this  is  a  form  of  INJUNCTION  which  seeks  to  compel  the 
performance  of  certain  acts  or  services.  In  several  cases  the  Federal 
courts  have  issued  injunctions  commanding  employees  of  railways  to 
perform  their  customary  duties  as  long  as  they  remained  in  employ- 
ment. Such  injunctions  have  usually  been  issued  in  cases  where  the 
RAILWAY  BOYCOTT  was  resorted  to. 

Manual  Labor.  A  rough  designation  for  any  form  of  work 
which  is  wholly  or  chiefly  of  a  physical  character.  Also  a  collective 
designation  for  those  whose  daily  work  is  of  this  nature.  According 
to  the  recent  report  of  a  British  social  research  society,  "the  male 
manual  workers  are  that  race  of  beings  who  soil  their  hands  and  their 
clothing  by  handling  tools,  manufacturing  machinery,  fetching 
and  carrying  materials;  they  use  the  muscles  of  the  hands,  the  arms, 
the  legs,  and  the  body;  their  work,  as  a  rule,  is  routine  drudgery 
making  little  demand  upon  mind  or  heart.  With  these  male  manual 
workers  we  include  their  womenfolk  in  the  homes,  and  also  those 
women  who  are  doing  work  similar  to  that  of  the  men."  Other  col- 
lective designations  for  the  workers  of  this  class  are  "toilers," 
"masses,"  "common  people,"  "poor,"  "lower  classes,"  "PROLE- 
TARIAT," "labor,"  etc. 

Manual  Training.     See  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION. 
Margin  of  Idleness.    See  FRINGE  OF  UNEMPLOYED. 

Market  Boards.  In  the  American  clothing  trade,  these  are 
bodies  representative  of  the  organized  employers  and  the  organized 
workers  which  meet  in  each  of  the  great  clothing-making  centres — 
Chicago,  New  York,  Rochester,  and  Baltimore — to  discuss  and  settle 
problems  concerning  joint  interests  which  affect  the  entire  local 
market. 

Marque  Syndicale.  The  French  equivalent  for  UNION  LABEL. 
The  marque  syndicate  is  extensively  used  in  some  industries,  notably 
the  printing  trades ;  and  denotes  that  the  work  upon  which  it  is  placed 
was  performed  either  by  trade  unionists  or  under  trade  union  con- 
ditions. 

[314] 


Marriage  Benefits.  A  unique  form  of  trade  union  BENEFIT 
paid  by  the  NATIONAL  FEDERATION  OF  WOMAN  WORKERS,  a  British 
organization.  The  provision  in  the  constitution  of  the  Federation 
reads  thus:  "In  the  event  of  the  marriage  of  a  member,  if  she  has 
been  a  full  member  for  two  years,  and  has  not  received  out-of- 
employment  or  sick  benefit  during  the  period  of  her  membership, 
the  central  council  shall  refund  50  per  cent  of  the  amount  of  her 
contributions,  providing  she  is  leaving  her  trade  and  terminating 
her  membership." 

Marshalmen.     See  STEWARD. 

Marxian  Industrial  Unionism.  This  phrase  is  used  in  the 
British  labor  movement  in  designation  of  what  is  more  commonly 
known  in  the  United  States  as  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM.  The 
Marxian  industrial  unionist  "starts  from  the  standpoint  of  ECONOMIC 
DETERMINISM.  He  would  accomplish  the  overthrow  of  the  present 
capitalistic  system  by  organization  of  the  workers  into  a  strong 
coherent  body.  His  revolution  is  economic,  his  instrument  the 
DICTATORSHIP  OP  THE  PROLETARIAT.  His  thoughts  are  upon  industry 
only  as  industry  is  the  instrument  of  this  revolution." 

Marxian  Socialism  or  Marxianism.    See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM. 
Mass  Strike.    See  GENERAL  STRIKE. 

Mass  Unionism.  A  term  sometimes  applied  to  the  plan  of 
organizing  all  the  workers  of  a  community,  without  regard  to  craft, 
industrial,  or  any  other  distinctions.  Some  elements  within  the 
INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD  favor  this  form  of  organization, 
as  against  the  plan  of  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM,  and  at  least  one  of  the 
early  I.  W.  W.  locals  was  organized  on  this  basis — the  local  at  Gold- 
field,  Nevada,  which  was  the  scene  of  bitter  labor  troubles  during 
1906-7. 

Massachusetts  Savings  Banks  Insurance  and  Pension 
System.  This  plan,  characterized  by  one  authority  as  "the  first 
significant  step  towards  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  in  the  United  States," 
was  originated  by  Louis  D.  Brandeis  (now  associate  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court)  and  embodied  in  a  state  legislative  act  passed  in 
June,  1907.  The  purposes  of  the  act  are  to  furnish  secure  life  insurance 
and  old-age  annuities  to  the  wage-workers  of  Massachusetts  at  the 
lowest  possible  cost,  as  a  substitute  for  the  expensive  so-called 
"industrial  life  insurance,"  through  the  medium  of  duly  authorized 
savings  banks,  acting  under  somewhat  elaborate  state  supervision. 

[315] 


Master.  In  England,  any  employe^  of  labor  is  generally  so 
called.  (See  LITTLE  MASTER.) 

Master's  Man.     See  COMPANY  MAN. 

Master  and  Servant  Acts.  Various  British  Parliamentary 
enactments  defining  and  regulating  the  relations  between  employers 
and  employees.  Under  the  early  Master  and  Servant  Acts,  passed 
during  the  middle  years  of  the  ipth  century,  an  employer  who  broke 
a  contract  of  service  was  merely  liable  to  pay  damages.  The  work- 
man's penalty  for  breach  of  contract  (i.e.,  for  a  simple  refusal  to 
work)  was  three  months'  imprisonment,  without  the  option  of  a 
fine.  Even  his  trial  was  often  a  farce;  he  could  be  arrested  summarily 
and  sentenced  by  a  single  justice  of  the  peace,  from  whose  judgment 
there  was  no  appeal.  This  scandalous  situation  was  only  ended, 
after  a  long  struggle,  by  the  passing  of  a  reformed  Master  and 
Servant  Act  in  1867.  (See  EMPLOYERS  AND  WORKMEN  ACT.) 

Material  Trade  Union.  The  name  sometimes  given  to  a 
structural  type  of  trade  union  organization  which  (according  to 
G.  D.  H.  Cole)  "follows  the  line  not  of  the  precise  craft  followed  by 
the  worker  concerned,  but  of  the  material  on  which  he  or  she  may 
happen  to  be  working.  Thus,  there  are  many  who  advocate  that  the 
various  unions  of  skilled  wood-workers  (carpenters,  cabinet-makers, 
and  joiners,  furnishing  trades,  wood-cutting  machinists,  packing- 
case  makers,  etc.)  should  amalgamate  into  a  single  union,  not  on 
industrial  lines,  but  on  the  lines  of  the  material  on  which  all  these 
crafts  in  common  work;  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  is 
actually  the  form  of  organization  adopted  by  the  largest  Trade 
Union  in  Germany — the  German  Metal-workers'  Union.  This 
Union,  however,  goes  further,  and  includes  skilled  and  unskilled 
workers  alike.  .  .  .  Material  Unionism  is  not  necessarily  allied  with 
CRAFT  UNIONISM.  Indeed,  in  Germany,  the  Metal-workers'  Union 
is  far  more  nearly  akin  to  an  Industrial  than  to  a  Craft  Union." 
(See  GERMAN  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZATION.) 

Material  Unionism.     See  MATERIAL  TRADE  UNION. 

Materialistic  Conception  of  History.  See  ECONOMIC  DE- 
TERMINISM. 

Maternity  Insurance.  A  form  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  which 
partially  indemnifies  wage-earning  women  for  loss  of  wages  due  to 
absence  from  work  immediately  before  and  after  child-birth.  Such 
indemnification  usually  takes  the  form  of  weekly  payments,  commonly 

[316] 


known  as  "lying-in  benefits";  but  it  often  includes  medical  care  as 
well.  In  twelve  European  countries  maternity  insurance  is  provided 
as  part  of  the  compulsory  health  insurance  systems;  five  countries 
provide  State  aid  for  this  purpose  to  voluntary  insurance  funds; 
and  three  others  make  direct  grants  to  mothers  upon  the  birth  of 
living  children.  (See  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Meantime  Workers.  A  phrase  sometimes  used  in  designation 
of  young  women  who  take  up  industrial  work  merely  to  fill  the 
interval  until  marriage. 

Mechanics'  Lien.  In  law,  the  prior  claim  of  a  workman  upon 
buildings  or  land  to  the  amount  of  his  wages  for  labor  performed 
upon  such  buildings  or  land  or  for  material  furnished,  regardless  of 
whether  he  was  engaged  by  the  owner  or  by  another  person.  Laws 
fixing  such  prior  claim  exist  in  all  the  states  of  this  country.  Their 
provisions  are  lengthy  and  elaborate,  but  in  general  they  undertake 
to  give  all  classes  of  mechanics,  or  material  men,  liens  either  on  the 
building  and  land  covered  by  the  lien,  or  upon  the  building  and  a 
certain  amount  of  land  surrounding  it;  and  in  some  states  such 
liens  even  take  precedence  of  the  prior  mortgage. 

Mechanics'  Union  of  Trade  Associations.  The  first  labor 
organization  involving  more  than  a  single  trade  to  be  formed  in 
America — or,  according  to  some  authorities,  in  any  country.  It 
grew  out  of  a  strike  of  the  carpenters  of  Philadelphia  in  1827;  other 
trades  came  to  the  support  of  the  carpenters,  and  an  organization 
was  effected.  Some  fifteen  societies  were  later  included.  Through 
its  efforts  what  is  probably  the  first  wage-earners'  paper  ever  pub- 
lished, "The  Mechanics'  Free  Press,"  was  started  in  1828.  The 
organization  took  an  active  part  in  politics,  but  disappeared  soon 
after  the  election  of  1831. 

Mediation.  In  connection  with  industrial  disputes,  the  inter- 
vention of  some  "outside"  impartial  person  or  body,  with  a  view  to 
promoting  the  settlement  of  a  dispute  by  mutual  agreement  between 
the  contending  parties.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  confusion  in  the 
current  use  of  the  terms  "mediation"  and  CONCILIATION.  Some 
writers  and  labor  officials  make  little  if  any  distinction  between  the 
two,  while  they  are  often  used  by  different  authorities  in  directly 
contrary  senses.  But  it  should  be  noted  that,  as  the  word  itself 
implies,  mediation  always  involves  the  introduction  of  an  inter- 
mediary or  "middle"  agency  in  an  industrial  dispute;  while  concili- 
ation does  not  necessarily  involve  anything  of  the  sort — although, 


as  a  matter  of  fact,  such  an  agency  is  in  most  cases  the  determining 
factor.  Mediation,  in  fact,  refers  simply  to  that  form  of  conciliation 
in  which  an  outside  agency  is  utilized  as  a  go-between  by  the  two 
contending  parties — an  agency  which  endeavors  in  all  possible  ways 
to  help  the  disputants  to  arrive  at  a  mutually  acceptable  settlement. 
In  ARBITRATION,  on  the  other  hand,  the  dispute  is  taken  out  of  the 
control  of  the  contending  parties,  and  settled  by  a  third  party, 
who  acts  as  a  judge  on  the  merits  of  the  case.  The  practice  of  medi- 
ation is  applicable  both  to  disputes  regarding  general  conditions  of 
labor  and  to  those  regarding  interpretation  of  existing  agreements. 
It  is  obvious,  however,  that  mediation  is  likely  to  occur  only  in 
regard  to  disputes  which  have  become  conspicuous  before  the  general 
public,  and  which  involve  the  public  interests  as  well  as  those  of  the 
disputants.  In  other  words,  the  intervention  of  outside  parties  to 
bring  about  a  settlement  usually  takes  place  only  in  case  of  open 
rupture  between  employers  and  employees,  and  usually  only  after 
a  prolonged  strike  or  lockout.  (See  MEDIATOR;  and  all  cross  refer- 
ences under  CONCILIATION.) 

Mediator.  A  public  official  or  an  impartial  "outsider"  who 
intervenes  in  an  industrial  dispute,  with  the  object  of  bringing  the 
two  parties  together  in  a  voluntary  settlement  of  .their  differences, 
Unlike  an  ARBITRATOR,  the  mediator  has  no  power  or  authority  to 
decide  the  merits  of  the  case  on  his  own  account.  If  such  power  is 
given  him  by  the  disputants  or  by  outside  authority,  he  ceases  to 
be  a  mediator  and  becomes  an  arbitrator.  The  function  of  the 
mediator  is  to  act  as  a  go-between  in  the  negotiations,  "to  pro- 
mote calm  discussion,  to  draw  forth  frank  explanations,  or  to  sug- 
gest possible  terms  of  compromise."  The  resulting  settlement  may 
indeed  be  largely  or  wholly  of  his  own  framing,  but  he  will  seldom 
let  it  appear  so,  his  purpose  being  simply  that  the  disputants  shall 
come  to  an  agreement  between  themselves.  The  terms  "mediator," 
"arbitrator,"  and  "conciliator"  are  often  used  indiscriminately, 
with  great  resulting  confusion  in  the  public  mind.  The  distinction 
between  "mediator"  and  "arbitrator"  is  sufficiently  indicated  above. 
As  to  "conciliator,"  there  seems  no  real  need  for  using  the  word  at 
all.  If  a  mediator  has  been  successful  in  conciliating  the  two  parties 
to  a  dispute,  he  may  of  course  be  termed  a  conciliator;  but  there  is 
no  practical  value  in  such  a  distinction.  In  common  indiscriminate 
usage,  what  is  called  a  conciliator  may  be  in  fact  either  a  mediator 
or  an  arbitrator.  (See  MEDIATION.) 

Medical  Benefits.    See  BENEFITS. 

[318] 


Members  at  Large.  Among  American  national  and  interna- 
tional unions  there  are  two  principal  methods  or  devices  of  attaching 
isolated  JOURNEYMEN  in  towns  or  regions  where  no  LOCAL  of  the 
national  organization  exists.  In  some  cases,  such  journeymen  become 
direct  members  of  the  national  union,  pay  dues  directly  to  the 
central  headquarters,  and  are  entitled  to  all  BENEFITS  and  privileges 
accorded  to  other  members  of  the  union.  They  are  usually  known 
as  "members  at  large,"  although  other  designations  (e.g.,  "condi- 
tional members,"  "provisional  members,"  and  "general  members") 
are  sometimes  used.  In  other  unions,  such  isolated  journeymen 
become  members  of  the  nearest  neighboring  LOCAL  to  their  place  of 
residence,  and  are  known  as  "jurisdiction  members."  These  two 
methods  are  adopted  to  extend  "the  outposts  of  unionism,  as  well 
as  to  retain  those  members  in  good  standing  of  disbanded  local 
unions,  and  to  acquire  control  of  workers  immediately  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  a  local  union  who  would  be  of  service  in  counter- 
acting the  efforts  of  employers  to  secure  non-unionists." 

Members  in  Good  Standing.  In  any  labor  organization,  the 
phrase  "members  in  good  standing"  denotes  only  those  members 
whose  MEMBERSHIP  DUES  are  paid  to  some  definite  time.  The  num- 
ber of  members  in  good  standing  at  any  moment  is  smaller  than  the 
actual  number  of  members  who  contribute  their  force  and  their 
money  to  the  organization.  In  the  case  of  a  national  organization 
it  is  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  a  member's  standing,  not  only 
that  he  pay  his  dues  to  his  local  union,  but  that  the  officers  of  the  local 
union  remit  promptly  to  the  national  office.  Local  officers  are  fre- 
quently remiss,  and  it  results  that  the  number  of  members  in  good 
standing,  as  shown  by  the  books  of  the  national  union,  is  even 
smaller  than  the  number  of  members  who  have  actually  made  their 
payments.  (See  TAX  DODGING.) 

Membership  Committee.  See  ADMITTANCE  TO  THE  TRADE 
UNION;  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — LOCAL. 

Membership  Dues.  Each  member  of  a  local  labor  organiza- 
tion is  required  to  make  a  small  monthly  or  weekly  payment  in  sup- 
port of  the  organization.  The  amount  of  this  payment  is  practically 
always  fixed  by  the  local  union;  although  a  minimum  sum  is  some- 
times specified  in  the  constitution  of  the  national  union,  in  order  to 
insure  adequate  funds  for  the  local  treasuries.  Maximum  dues  also 
are  sometimes  thus  fixed,  although  rarely.  The  local  dues  vary 
widely  in  amount,  partly  with  the  average  earnings  of  the  trade, 
but  more  with  the  degree  of  organization  of  the  union  and  the  num- 

[319] 


her  and  amount  of  the  BENEFITS  it  pays.  If  women  are  admitted  to 
the  union,  the  dues  are  often  made  lower  for  them  than  for  men.  In 
other  cases,  where  men  of  different  earning  powers  are  admitted,  the 
dues  may  be  graded.  Thus,  in  a  union  of  steam  fitters  which  ad- 
mitted HELPERS  also,  the  dues  of  the  latter  would  be  considerably 
less  than  for  the  JOURNEYMEN.  (See  STAMP  RECEIPT  SYSTEM; 
CHECK-OFF  SYSTEM;  MEMBERS  IN  GOOD  STANDING.) 

Menial  Labor.    See  DOMESTIC  SERVICE. 
Mensheviki.    See  BOLSHEVISM. 

Metal  Trades  Councils.  Local,  district,  and  state  bodies, 
of  a  delegate  character,  representative  of  trade  unions  in  the  metal 
industries  affiliated  with  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 
Such  councils  are  chartered  directly  by  the  METAL  TRADES  DEPART- 
MENT of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  The  local  councils  consist  of  six  representa- 
tives from  each  craft  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  council,  regardless 
of  the  number  of  locals  in  the  jurisdiction.  Each  delegate  has  a 
single  vote.  The  usual  officers  and  executive  board  are  elected. 
The  functions  of  the  councils  are  to  promote  the  common  interests 
of  the  allied  trades  which  they  represent,  to  further  joint  action,  to 
carry  on  organization  work  among  unorganized  sections  of  the  trades, 
and  to  prepare  and  issue  a  joint  UNION  LABEL,  known  as  the  "metal 
trades  label."  Three  or  more  local  councils  may  federate  in  a  district 
or  state  council,  for  common  effort  and  joint  action  in  these  larger 
areas.  (See  TRADES  COUNCIL — AMERICAN.) 

Metal  Trades  Department  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor.  Organized  1908,  and  consisting  of  such  national  and  inter- 
national unions  of  metal  trades  workers  (blacksmiths,  boiler- 
makers,  stationary  engineers  and  firemen,  machinists,  moulders, 
plumbers,  electrical  workers,  iron  shipbuilders,  pattern  makers, 
steam  and  gas  fitters,  etc.)  as  are  affiliated  with  and  chartered  by 
the  A.  F.  of  L.  The  objects  of  the  Department,  according  to  its 
constitution,  are  "the  encouragement  and  formation  of  local  METAL 
TRADES  COUNCILS,  and  the  conferring  of  such  power  and  authority 
upon  the  several  local  organizations  of  this  Department  as  may  ad- 
vance the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  metal  trades  industry;  to  ad- 
just trade  disputes  along  practical  lines  as  they  arise,  and  to  establish 
more  harmonious  relations  between  employer  and  employee ;  to  issue 
charters  to  local  metal  trades  councils."  (See  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.) 

Metal  Trades  Label.     See  METAL  TRADES  COUNCILS. 

[320] 


M6tayage  or  Metayer  System.  A  plan  of  AGRICULTURAL 
LABOR  or  cultivation  which  prevails  in  central  and  southern  France, 
in  Italy,  and  in  the  southern  United  States.  Under  this  method  the 
tenant,  instead  of  paying  a  fixed  money  rent  for  the  land,  agrees  to 
pay  the  landlord  a  certain  proportion  of  the  crop  produced,  usually 
one  half.  (See  SHARE  CROPPERS.) 

Mexican  Labor  Party.    See  PARTIDO  LABORISTA  MEXICANO. 
Mexican    Regional    Confederation    of   Labor.     See    CON- 

FEDERACION   REGIONAL   OBRERA    MEXICANA. 

Mezzadri.     See  CONFEDERATIONS  ITALIANA  DEI  LAVORATORI. 

Middle  Class.  In  ordinary  usage,  a  collective  designation 
for  those  persons  (clerks,  professional  workers,  small  merchants, 
teachers,  technicians,  etc.)  whose  social  and  economic  status  is  above 
that  of  the  "common"  laboring  class  and  below  that  of  the  aristo- 
cratic or  wealthy  class.  The  term,  however,  is  more  and  more 
becoming  a  description  of  character  rather  than  an  indication  of 
social  rank  or  economic  status.  Thus,  one  writer  defines  the  middle 
class  as  "that  portion  of  the  community  to  which  money  is  the  pri- 
mary condition  and  the  primary  instrument  of  life."  As  used  by 
socialists,  the  term  denotes  those  persons  who  derive  their  incomes 
in  part  from  their  own  labor  and  in  part  from  invested  capital  or  the 
labor  of  others,  occupying  an  economic  position  midway  between  the 
BOURGEOISIE  and  the  PROLETARIAT.  (See  BLACKCOATS;  WHITE  COL- 
LARS ;  SALARIAT  ;  INTELLECTUAL  PROLETARIAT  ;  MIDDLE  CLASS  UNIONS . ) 

Middle  Class  Unions.  The  various  organizations  of  MIDDLE- 
CLASS  salaried  workers — clerks,  teachers,  government  employees, 
technicians,  etc. — are  often  so  called.  The  term  is  also  used  in  desig- 
nation of  various  organizations  (mostly  of  recent  origin)  which  are 
intended,  or  at  least  ostensibly  intended,  to  protect  the  so-called 
middle  class  from  the  "ever-increasing  encroachments  of  labor  and 
capital."  Some  of  these  organizations  openly  avow  STRIKEBREAKING 
as  the  chief  of  their  activities;  others,  though  more  cautious  in  their 
avowals,  are  essentially  strikebreaking  organizations;  while  still 
others  are  legitimate  associations  for  the  protection  and  advance- 
ment of  a  hitherto  unorganized  section  of  the  general  public.  (See 
BLACKCOATS;  WHITE  COLLARS;  ANGESTELLTEN.) 

Midlertidig  lov  om  Arbeiderutvalg,  See  NORWEGIAN  WORKS 
COUNCIL  LAW, 

[321] 


Migratory  Labor.  Those  workers,  mainly  of  the  unskilled 
or  COMMON  LABOR  class,  who  have  lost  touch  with  any  permanent 
home,  but  drift  about  from  one  town  to  another,  securing  or  retaining 
employment  for  comparatively  short  periods  only.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  largest  numbers  in  the  Western  states,  doing  the  roughest 
and  hardest  work  in  mine  and  lumber  camp,  or  carrying  on  such 
brief  SEASONAL  OCCUPATIONS  as  wheat-harvesting  and  fruit-picking. 
They  are  the  pariahs  of  our  modern  industrial  system — "homeless, 
womanless,  jobless,  voteless  men"  who  are  utilized  and  exploited 
when  they  can  be,  and  then  often  driven  out,  living  always  on  the 
most  brutalizing  social  level.  According  to  Carleton  Parker,  who 
has  studied  this  class  more  intimately  than  any  other  authority, 
"the  migratory  laborers  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  finished 
products  of  their  environment.  They  should  therefore  never  be 
studied  as  isolated  revolutionaries,  but  rather  as,  on  the  whole, 
tragic  symptoms  of  a  sick  social  order.  Fortunately  the  psychologists 
have  made  it  unnecessary  to  explain  that  there  is  nothing  willful  or 
personally  reprehensible  in  the  vagrancy  of  these  vagrants.  Their 
histories  show  that,  starting  with  the  long  hours  and  dreary  winters 
of  farms  they  ran  away  from,  through  their  character-debasing 
experience  with  irregular  industrial  labor,  on  to  the  vicious  economic 
life  of  the  winter  unemployed,  their  training  predetermined  but  one 
outcome."  Migratory  workers  are  known  by  various  nicknames — 
"hoboes,"  "floaters,"  "rovers,"  "roustabouts,"  "yeggs,"  "boom- 
ers," "ten-day  workers,"  etc.  (See  CASUAL  LABOR;  UNDER- 
EMPLOYMENT; STIFF;  TIMBER  WOLF;  FRUIT  TRAMP;  INDUSTRIAL 
WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD.) 

Mine  Boss.     See  MINE  MANAGER. 
Mine  Committee.     See  PIT  COMMITTEE. 
Mine  Foreman.     See  MINE  MANAGER. 

Mine  Inspection.  In  nearly  all  countries  mining  furnishes 
a  higher  fatal  accident  rate  than  any  of  the  other  main  groups  of 
industry.  Metal-mining  has  a  higher  death-rate  than  coal-mining, 
and  employment  in  anthracite  coal  mines  is  more  dangerous  than  in 
bituminous  mines,  since  the  former  are  deeper  and  more  subject  to 
accumulations  of  noxious  and  explosive  gases.  Coal-mining  appears 
to  be  more  dangerous  in  America  than  in  any  other  country.  Recog- 
nition of  the  insanitary  and  dangerous  conditions  which  are  likely  to 
prevail  in  mines  has  led  nearly  all  states  in  which  coal  mines  are  found 
to  make  regulations  regarding  them  and  to  provide  for  their  inspec- 

[322  1 


tion.  Such  laws  usually  aim  not  only  to  protect  the  employees 
against  accident  and  unhealthy  conditions,  but,  unlike  the  factory 
laws,  they  also  protect  the  property  of  the  mine  owners.  They  pro- 
vide for  the  appointment  and  removal  of  inspectors,  usually  upon 
the  basis  of  a  civil  service  examination  conducted  by  a  board  of 
examiners  who  are  acquainted  with  the  mining  industry,  including 
representatives  of  the  employers  and  the  employees,  with  a  mining 
engineer  as  a  third  member.  These  inspectors  are  required  regularly 
to  visit  the  mines  and  call  upon  the  OPERATORS  for  the  necessary 
facilities  for  inspection,  and  to  call  upon  the  courts  to  issue  orders 
commanding  recalcitrant  owners  or  operators  to  grant  admission 
to  their  mines.  (See  MINE  MANAGER.) 

Mine  Manager.  The  laws  of  nearly  all  American  bituminous 
coal-mining  states  require  the  owner  or  OPERATOR  of  every  mine  to 
appoint  some  competent  person  for  the  general  direction  of  the 
underground  work,  or  both  the  underground  and  the  outside  work. 
This  person  (variously  known  as  the  "mine  manager,"  "mine  fore- 
man," or  "mine  boss  ")  is  often  required  to  pass  a  special  state  examin- 
ation in  test  of  his  competency.  He  must  make  frequent  (sometimes 
daily)  inspections  of  all  apparatus  and  conditions  in  the  mine,  with 
special  reference  to  the  safety  of  the  miners,  see  that  necessary 
changes  are  made,  and  (usually)  send  periodic  reports  to  the  state 
officials.  In  mines  which  generate  explosive  gases,  a  separate  official 
called  the  "fire  boss"  is  sometimes  required,  who  must  be  a  technical 
expert  in  his  field  and  who  has  special  powers  in  connection  with  the 
dangers  from  explosions.  (See  MINE  INSPECTION.) 

Mine -Run  System.     See  SCREENING  SYSTEM. 
Mine  Safety.     See  MINE  INSPECTION. 

Miners'  Agent.  Among  British  coal-miners,  a  trade  union 
official  who  has  charge  of  a  district  organization  representative 
of  all  the  branch  units  or  "lodges"  of  the  national  union  within  a 
given  district. 

"Miners'  Next  Step."  The  title  of  a  famous  pamphlet  issued 
in  1912  by  the  syndicalist  section  of  South  Wales  miners.  It  pro- 
posed the  GENERAL  STRIKE  as  a  means  of  securing  control  over  the 
whole  coal-field  of  South  Wales  by  the  workers  themselves,  acting 
through  a  delegate  body  meeting  monthly.  An  organization  known 
as  the  Industrial  Democracy  League  was  formed  soon  after  the  ap- 
pearance of  "The  Miners'  Next  Step,"  for  the  purpose  of  putting  the 
pamphlet's  principles  into  practice. 

[323] 


Minimum  Comfort  Level.  The  lowest  amount  of  yearly 
income  upon  which  a  family — usually  reckoned  as  consisting  of  a 
man  and  wife  and  three  small  children — can  live  at  a  minimum  of 
health  and  comfort.  Unlike  the  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL,  this 
calculation  includes  a  small  allowance  for  education,  recreation, 
reading  matter,  insurance,  and  similar  items.  (See  FAMILY  BUDGET  ; 
LIVING  WAGE;  MINIMUM  WAGE;  AMERICAN  STANDARD  OF  LIVING.) 

Minimum  Scale.    See  SCALE. 

Minimum  Subsistence  Level.  The  lowest  amount  of  income 
upon  which  a  "standard"  family  (five  persons)  may  sustain  the  vital 
physical  functions.  Unlike  the  MINIMUM  COMFORT  LEVEL,  it  includes 
no  allowance  for  those  small  advantages  or  comforts  which  are 
essential  to  any  decent  STANDARD  OF  LIVING.  Sometimes  called  the 
"existence  minimum" — or,  in  the  ironic  phrase  of  trade  unionists, 
the  "fodder  basis."  (See  LIVING  WAGE;  FAMILY  BUDGET;  MINIMUM 
WAGE;  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES.) 

Minimum  Wage.  As  most  commonly  used,  this  term  denotes 
a  specified  standard  or  standards,  fixed  by  public  legislation,  below 
which  wages  may  not  legally  be  depressed.  Such  standard  or  stand- 
ards may  be  applicable  to  all  workers  in  all  industries  within  the 
legislative  jurisdiction  involved,  or  to  all  workers  in  certain  selected 
industries,  or  only  to  women  and  children  in  all  or  particular  indus- 
tries. The  minimum  wage  is  generally  calculated  on  what  is  called 
the  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL,  but  it  may  be  and  often  is  an  arbi- 
trary amount  unrelated  to  current  living  costs  or  standards.  In 
England,  where  no  fixed  wage  standard  is  set  by  the  law  itself,  the 
general  practice  is  "to  level  the  wage  for  the  whole  trade  in  each 
district  up  to  the  standard  of  the  best  employer  in  that  district." 
In  the  badly  sweated  trades  this  means  a  considerable  increase  for 
most  of  the  workers,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  give  them  a  LIVING 
WAGE.  For  a  long  time  the  minimum  wage  principle  was  strongly 
opposed  by  economists,  who  believed  that  such  an  arbitrary  inter- 
ference with  economic  "laws"  could  result  only  in  disaster;  by  em- 
ployers, who  frequently  asserted  that  the  principle  spelt  ultimate 
"industrial  ruin";  and  by  certain  trade  union  officials,  who  feared 
that  it  would  hinder  the  trade  union  movement  by  enabling  the  work- 
ers to  secure  wage  gains  without  the  aid  of  organization.  But  what- 
ever may  be  said  against  the  minimum  wage  idea,  it  has  as  yet  failed 
to  justify  any  of  these  particular  fears.  On  the  asset  side,  as  George 
O'Brien  points  out,  "the  minimum  wage  possesses  at  least  one  car- 

[324] 


dinal  advantage,  namely,  that  it  forces  the  State  to  face  the  problem 
of  the  maintenance  of  those  who  are  unable  through  physical  or 
mental  infirmity  to  work  sufficiently  to  earn  the  minimum.  At  pres- 
ent there  is  a  danger  that  the  labor  of  such  incapables  may  be  re- 
sorted to,  in  order  to  lower  the  standard  rate  of  wages;  but  under  a 
universal  insistence  on  the  minimum  wage  they  would  be  bound 
to  be  maintained  by  public  benevolence  or  provided  with  lighter 
and  more  suitable  employment.  The  danger  to  which  the  accept- 
ance of  the  principle  of  the  minimum  wage  gives  rise  is  that  wages 
may  come  to  be  fixed  without  sufficient  regard  to  the  productive 
capacity  of  the  workman,  or  the  nature  of  his  output."  The  term 
"minimum  wage"  is  occasionally  applied  to  the  minimum  rate  of 
wages  fixed,  not  by  legislative  action,  but  by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAIN- 
ING or  the  WORKING  RULES  of  a  trade  union.  (See  MINIMUM  WAGE 
LAWS;  STANDARD  RATE;  COST  OP  LIVING;  FAMILY  BUDGET;  COM- 
MON RULE;  COMMONWEALTH  COURT  OF  CONCILIATION  AND  ARBI- 
TRATION.) 

Minimum  Wage  Commissions.     See  MINIMUM  WAGE  LAWS. 

Minimum  Wage  Laws.  Beginning  with  the  action  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  1912,  thirteen  states  in  this  country,  besides  the  District 
of  Columbia  and  the  island  possession  of  Porto  Rico,  have  enacted 
MINIMUM  WAGE  laws.  A  few  of  these  statutes  are  of  the  "flat  rate" 
sort,  in  which  a  minimum  rate  of  wages  is  specified  in  the  law.  Most 
of  them,  however,  are  of  the  class  known  as  "wage  board"  laws, 
delegating  to  a  board  or  commission  the  duty  of  investigating  par- 
ticular industries  and  determining  a  suitable  rate,  either  independ- 
ently or  after  investigation  and  recommendation  by  advisory  bodies 
known  as  wage  boards  or  conferences.  In  all  but  one  state,  penalties 
are  provided  for  non-compliance.  The  law  is  in  all  cases  restricted 
to  females,  as  far  as  adult  labor  is  concerned,  though  in  a  majority 
of  the  states  minors  are  also  included.  In  a  few  states  certain  specified 
occupations  are  exempted  from  the  workings  of  the  act.  In  nearly 
every  case  the  law  is  based  on  the  necessary  COST  OF  LIVING  adequate 
to  maintain  health  and  welfare,  or  "to  supply  the  necessary  comforts 
of  a  reasonable  life."  In  some  states  wages  of  minors  need  not  be 
adequate  for  their  maintenance,  but  must  be  "suitable"  or  "not 
unreasonably  low."  Rates  lower  than  the  minimum  for  experienced 
workers  may  be  fixed  for  LEARNERS  and  for  women  of  substandard 
capacity,  either  physically  or  mentally.  Minimum  wage  laws,  of 
varied  scope,  have  been  enacted  by  Great  Britain,  Australia,  Norway, 
22  [325] 


France,  and  four  Canadian  provinces.    (See  TRADE  BOARDS;  WAGE 
BOARDS;  COAL  MINE  ACT;  CORN  PRODUCTION  ACT.) 

Mining  Department  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Organized  1912,  and  composed  of  such  international  or  national 
unions  in  mining,  oil,  and  kindred  industries  as  are  affiliated  with  the 
A.  F.  of  L. — chiefly  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America.  The  object 
of  the  Department  is  "the  greater  unity"  of  the  workers  whom 
it  represents,  and  "the  furtherance  of  the  principle  that  'an  injury 
to  one  is  the  concern  of  all.'"  According  to  its  constitution,  "the 
President  may,  where  he  considers  it  advisable,  establish  local 
councils  of  the  Mining  Department."  (See  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.) 

Mining  Institutes.  Local  and  district  organizations,  for 
educational  and  social  purposes,  of  workers  in  the  coal-mining 
regions  of  Pennsylvania.  At  first  fostered  by  the  state  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
they  are  now  for  the  most  part  independent  and  self-sustaining. 
Meetings  are  usually  held  monthly. 

Ministero  per  il  Lavoro  e  la  Previdenza  Sociale  (Ministry 
of  Labor  and  Social  Thrift).  By  a  decree  of  June  3,  1920,  this 
department  of  the  Italian  government  has  been  established,  to  take 
over  certain  functions  hitherto  performed  by  the  Ministry  of  Indus- 
try, Commerce,  and  Labor  (hereafter  to  be  known  as  the  Ministry 
of  Industry  and  Commerce).  The  services  thus  taken  over  include 
those  whose  activities  are  concerned  with  SOCIAL  INSURANCE,  CO- 
OPERATION, the  inspection  of  factories,  workshops,  and  mines, 
AGRICULTURAL  LABOR  and  agricultural  cooperative  societies,  FRIENDLY 
SOCIETIES  and  other  thrift  bodies.  All  services  relating  to  assistance 
to  workers  have  also  been  taken  over,  and  the  ministry  will  exercise 
supervision  over  the  two  national  funds  for  soldiers  and  sailors, 
established  in  1917  and  1919  respectively,  as  well  as  over  all  other 
institutions  with  analogous  objects.  The  office  of  labor  statistics, 
the  national  employment  department,  and  the  central  statistical 
office  have  been  transferred  to  the  new  ministry.  In  the  future, 
legislation  relating  to  emigration  and  treaties  affecting  labor  and 
emigration  will  be  prepared  jointly  by  the  Minister  of  Labor  and 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

Mixed  Local.  The  type  of  LOCAL  which  predominates  in  the 
INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD.  It  was  originally  intended  as 
a  recruiting  branch  only,  "to  include  workers  in  various  industries, 
but  only  so  to  include  them  temporarily;  it  being  understood  that 

[326] 


so  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of  the  workers  in  any  particular  indus- 
try came  into  the  locality  to  warrant  their  organization  into  a  union 
all  members  of  the  mixed  local  who  belonged  to  that  industry 
should  immediately  withdraw  from  the  'mixed'  and  join  the  'pure' 
INDUSTRIAL  UNION.  It  was,  of  course,  assumed  that  no  one  should 
join  a  mixed  local  or  remain  in  a  mixed  local  when  a  union  of  his 
industry  existed  in  that  locality."  (See  FEDERAL  LABOR  UNION.) 

Mixed  Shop.  One  in  which  both  union  and  non-union  workers 
are  employed,  either  under  a  definite  OPEN  SHOP  agreement  or  in  the 
absence  of  such  an  agreement. 

Mixed  Union.  No  very  fixed  or  definite  meaning  attaches  to 
this  term.  In  the  United  States,  it  generally  denotes  a  trade  union 
organized  on  neither  craft  nor  industrial  lines,  but  which  admits 
workers  in  any  craft  or  industry — as  for  example,  a  FEDERAL  LABOR 
UNION.  In  England,  trade  unions  made  up  of  both  men  and  women 
workers  are  usually  called  "mixed  unions," — and  in  America  also 
the  term  is  sometimes  used  in  that  sense.  In  France,  the  SYNDICATE 
MIXTES  are  more  in  the  nature  of  benefit  societies  than  of  trade 
unions.  (See  MIXED  LOCAL.) 

Mobility  of  Labor.  While  this  term  is  sometimes  used  with 
reference  to  the  movement  of  labor  from  one  industry  or  locality  to 
another,  in  the  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS  terminology  it  refers 
specifically  to  the  movement  of  workers  into  and  out  of  industrial 
establishments — the  movement  of  which  LABOR  TURNOVER  or  replace- 
ment is  one  phase.  Those  workers  who  are  hired  are  referred  to  as 
"accessions."  Those  leaving  service,  under  whatever  circumstances, 
are  referred  to  as  "separations."  Whichever  one  of  these  two  items — 
accessions  or  separations — is  the  smaller  may  conveniently  be  taken 
as  measuring  the  number  of  replacements.  The  total  number  of 
labor  changes — that  is  to  say,  the  sum  of  all  the  accessions  and 
separations— is  the  "labor  flux."  The  amount  by  which  the  acces- 
sions in  an  expanding  business  are  in  excess  of  the  separations  is  the 
amount  of  "labor  increase."  The  amount  by  which  the  separations 
in  a  plant  exceed  the  accessions  is  the  amount  of  "labor  decrease." 

Moderates.    See  RIGHT,  RIGHT  WING. 

Molly  Maguires.  A  name  given  to  certain  leaders  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  who  were  held  responsible  for  mur- 
ders and  other  crimes  in  the  anthracite  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania, 
during  a  protracted  strike  in  1874-5.  Ten  of  these  leaders  were 
executed,  and  fourteen  were  sent  to  prison. 

[327] 


Money  Steward.    See  STEWARD. 

Monopoly  Policy  of  Trade  Unionism.  Two  sorts  of  trade 
union  monopoly  should  be  carefully  distinguished.  The  first  con- 
sists in  so  complete  an  inclusion  of  all  the  workers  at  a  particular 
trade  that  the  union  is  able  to  take,  in  relation  to  employers,  the 
position  of  the  sole  seller  of  that  kind  of  labor  which  its  members 
offer.  The  second  sort  consists  in  the  exclusion  of  candidates  for 
membership  in  the  union,  or  the  placing  of  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
joining  it,  coupled  with  control  of  employment  at  the  trade.  In  the 
first  case  a  monopoly  exists  only  so  far  as  the  relation  of  the  union 
to  the  employers  is  concerned.  In  the  second  case,  a  monopoly  is 
maintained  by  the  actual  members  against  their  fellow-workmen. 
Complaints  are  sometimes  made  that  certain  unions  are  close  cor- 
porations, and  that  men  who  desire  admission  to  them  are  without 
good  cause  rejected.  This  complaint  is  often  justified — particularly 
in  the  building  trades.  In  other  cases  the  money  cost  of  joining  is 
made  high.  "'The  same  spirit  which  leads  to  the  exclusion  of  men 
from  the  union,  and  thereby  from  employment,  appears  in  the  re- 
striction of  number  of  APPRENTICES.  .  .  Something  of  the  same  spirit, 
applied  to  foreigners,  appears  both  in  the  advocacy  of  measures  to 
restrict  IMMIGRATION  by  law,  and  in  the  placing  of  especially  high 
INITIATION  FEES  on  foreigners.  The  monopoly  against  fellow- 
workmen  is  in  some  degree  inconsistent  with  the  monopoly  against 
employers.  That  against  employers  is  founded  on  universal  inclu- 
sion; that  against  fellow-workmen  on  exclusion.  The  attempt  to 
establish  a  monopoly  of  the  second  sort  makes  it  impossible  per- 
manently to  maintain  one  of  the  first.  If  workers  are  not  permitted 
to  join  the  union  they  will  still  be  able  in  most  occupations  to  make 
themselves  felt  as  competitors,  and  their  competition  will  be  severer 
and  more  injurious  than  it  would  be  if  they  were  admitted  to  the 
union."  (See  CLOSED  UNION;  CLOSED  SHOP;  EXCLUSIVE  AGREE- 
MENT; EXCLUSION  POLICY  OP  TRADE  UNIONISM;  RESTRICTION  OP 
NUMBERS.) 

Monthly  Working  Button.    See  WORKING  BUTTON. 

Mooney  Case.  During  a  "preparedness  parade"  in  San  Fran- 
cisco on  July  22,  1916,  ten  persons  were  killed  by  a  bomb  thrown  into 
the  crowd.  A  prominent  labor  ORGANIZER,  Thomas  J.  Mooney, 
with  his  wife  and  several  associates,  was  held  on  the  charge  of  having 
committed  the  crime.  After  a  trial  in  which  Mooney  was  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  death,  one  of  the  chief  witnesses  for  the  prosecution 

[328] 


fell  under  grave  suspicion.  As  a  result  of  national  indignation  among 
the  laboring  classes,  the  PRESIDENT'S  MEDIATION  COMMISSION  was 
asked  to  investigate  the  case.  This  body  reported  that  Mooney 
had  been  convicted  on  indisputably  perjured  evidence.  Both  the 
presiding  judge  and  the  prosecuting  attorney  at  Mooney's  trial  have 
since  expressed  their  doubt  of  his  guilt,  while  a  member  of  the  San 
Francisco  police  force  has  confessed  that  witnesses  were  coached  for 
weeks  before  the  trial  in  building  up  a  case  against  the  defendants. 
Under  subsequent  pressure  from  President  Wilson,  Mooney's  sen- 
tence was  commuted  to  life  imprisonment,  but  a  new  trial  has  been 
persistently  denied.  The  case  has  achieved  international  fame  in 
labor  circles. 

Morale  in  Industry.  Defined  as  the  "involuntary  organiza- 
tion of  mind,"  and  partially  expressed  in  such  commoner  terms  as 
"loyalty,"  "good  will,"  esprit  de  corps,  "efficiency,"  etc.,  morale 
is  a  most  important  factor  in  any  large  industrial  undertaking. 
Although  it  may  be  difficult  to  trace  its  concrete  expression,  it  exerts 
a  profound  influence  on  the  work  of  every  human  unit  in  the  organi- 
zation. (See  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRATION;  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
DEPARTMENT.) 

Mortuary  Benefit.     See  DEATH  BENEFIT. 

Moscow  Conditions.    See  LENIN'S  TWENTY-ONE  CONDITIONS. 

Moscow  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONALE;  COMMUNIST 
INTERNATIONALE. 

Moscow  Internationale  Communist  Manifesto.  A  docu- 
ment setting  forth  the  principles  of  the  COMMUNIST  INTERNATIONALE, 
formed  at  Moscow  in  March,  1919.  The  manifesto  condemns  the 
imperialism  which  caused  the  World  War  and  which,  as  it  asserts, 
is  perpetuated  by  the  League  of  Nations,  and  declares  that  only  a  vic- 
torious PROLETARIAT  throughout  the  world  will  guarantee  democracy 
and  self-determination  to  Europe  and  freedom  from  exploitation  to 
the  oppressed  colonies  of  Asia  and  Africa.  It  maintains  that  a  DIC- 
TATORSHIP OF  THE  PROLETARIAT  will  be  necessary  wherever  the 
BOURGEOISIE  resists  the  SOCIALIZATION  of  industry.  The  confer- 
ence declared  that  the  second  Internationale  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  war,  and  that  the  third  Internationale  is  the  genuine  successor 
of  the  first  Internationale  founded  by  Marx  and  Engels  in  1864. 
(See  COMMUNIST  MANIFESTO.) 

Moscow  Trade  Union  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL 
COUNCIL  OF  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS. 

[329] 


Mothers'  Pensions.  A  form  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE,  closely 
allied  to  WIDOWS'  AND  ORPHANS'  INSURANCE,  which  has  made  par- 
ticular headway  in  the  United  States.  Most  of  the  state  legislative 
acts  in  this  country,  notwithstanding  their  general  title  of  "mothers' 
pensions  acts,"  really  provide  pensions  for  dependent  children,  to 
be  paid  to  widows  or  wives  of  deceased,  deserting,  disabled,  or  im- 
prisoned husbands. 

Motion  Study.  A  method  or  process  which,  along  with  its 
companion  process  TIME  STUDY,  is  inherent  in  any  scheme  of  SCIEN- 
TIFIC MANAGEMENT.  The  object  of  this  method,  according  to  G.  D. 
H.  Cole,  "is  so  to  study  the  motions  of  a  workman  engaged  upon  a 
particular  job  as  to  know  what  motions  are  of  a  wasteful  character, 
and  can  be  eliminated  with  advantage.  Where  this  method  is  adopted , 
once  again  the  job  is  studied  by  experts  who  stand  over  the  workman 
while  he  is  doing  it.  The  motions  employed  are  carefully  observed, 
and  thereafter  suggestions  are  made  with  regard  to  the  motions  that 
ought  to  be  used  in  doing  the  job,  the  tools  with  which  the  job  can 
be  done  with  least  effort,  the  adjustments  proper  for  these  tools, 
etc.  When  the  job  is  issued  with  the  price  upon  it,  instructions 
covering  these  points  are  issued  with  it,  and  the  price  placed  upon 
it  is  such  that  it  is  only  by  following  instructions  and  eliminating 
waste  motions  that  an  adequate  percentage  over  the  day-work 
rate  can  be  earned."  More  briefly  put,  the  object  of  motion  study 
is  "to  determine  the  most  effective  motion  to  accomplish  a  desired 
result;  and  one  of  the  elements  in  the  determination  of  its  effective- 
ness is  the  time  it  takes  to  execute  it.  Time  study  and  motion  study, 
therefore,  go  hand  in  hand,  but  it  is  not  impossible  to  make  an  effec- 
tive and  profitable  motion  study  without  the  use  of  any  timing 
device."  (See  TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY.) 

Move.  In  the  flint  glass  trade,  where  workers  are  commonly 
paid  on  a  PIECE  WORK  basis,  the  wage  payment  for  each  kind  of 
article  manufactured  is  based  upon  a  so-called  "move,"  consisting 
of  a  certain  number  of  pieces  which  a  group  of  workers  (called  in 
the  glass  trade  a  "shop")  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  make  in  a  shift 
or  "turn"  of  a  specified  time.  The  "move"  was  formerly  the  maxi- 
mum number  of  articles  which  the  group  or  "shop"  were  permitted 
to  make  in  the  allotted  time,  but  the  limitation  has  now  been  removed. 

Mucker.  In  mining  operations,  this  nickname  is  commonly 
applied  to  a  laborer  who  performs  the  lowest  grades  of  unskilled  work 
in  and  about  the  mine — such  work,  for  example,  as  shovelling  ore, 
loading  and  unloading  mine  cars,  etc. 

[330] 


Multiple-Branch  Union.  In  the  British  labor  movement,  a 
trade  union  embracing  all  or  most  of  the  workers  throughout  the 
country  engaged  in  a  single  craft  or  industry,  the  members  being 
organized  locally  in  BRANCHES  of  the  parent  society.  Thus,  the 
Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers  consists  of  upwards  of  1000 
branches,  of  which  more  than  300  are  in  the  Colonies.  The  700 
home  branches  are  grouped  in  a  series  of  DISTRICT  COMMITTEES  of 
widely  different  importance.  Thus  the  London  District  Committee 
includes  seventy-two  branches,  Glasgow  sixty  branches,  Manchester 
forty-nine,  Birmingham  thirty-two,  and  others,  such  as  Norwich, 
only  two.  Many  districts,  moreover,  possess  only  a  single  branch, 
and,  in  such  cases,  this  branch  has  the  same  function  and  powers  as 
the  district  committees  in  the  larger  centres.  (See  BRITISH  TRADE 
UNION  ORGANIZATION.) 

Multiplied  Strike.     See  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE. 

Municipal  Socialism.  A  term  rather  loosely  applied  to  any 
scheme  for  town  or  city  ownership  or  control  of  such  public  utilities 
as  water-supply,  lighting  and  heating  plants,  street-car  service, 
markets,  hospitals,  amusement  enterprises,  and  other  necessities  or 
conveniences  of  general  use.  Also  called  "municipal  trading."  (See 
SOCIALIZATION.) 

Municipal  Trading.     See  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM. 

Mutual  Aid.  The  instinct  for  solidarity  and  self-preservation 
which  prompts  man  to  give  and  receive  help  from  his  fellow-men. 
In  his  classic  book  on  this  subject,  Kropotkin  claims  that  mutual 
aid  has  been  as  important  a  factor  in  the  preservation  of  the  species 
as  the  struggle  for  existence.  He  records  a  large  number  of  sug- 
gestive instances  of  cooperation  among  both  higher  and  lower  ani- 
mals, and  draws  interesting  analogies  between  human  society  and 
such  highly  developed  societies  as  those  of  ants  and  bees.  ANARCHISM 
relies  upon  the  instinct  for  mutual  aid  to  render  the  unrestrained 
freedom  of  the  individual  compatible  with  an  orderly  and  productive 
social  existence.  (See  CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM;  MUTUALISM.) 

Mutual  Aid  Societies.  A  generic  term  for  various  volun- 
tary associations  of  industrial  workers  in  nearly  all  countries,  formed 
to  assist  the  needy  ones  among  themselves  and  to  provide  certain 
forms  of  insurance  at  low  cost,  sick  BENEFITS  being  their  most  con- 
spicuous and  commonest  feature.  Sometimes  they  combine  educa- 
tional activities  with  financial  aid.  Such  organizations  are  generally 
known  as  "benevolent  societies"  or  "benevolent  associations"  in 


the  United  States,  as  FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES  in  Great  Britain,  socittts 
de  secours  mutuels  in  France  and  Belgium,  Krankenkassen  in  the 
Germanic  countries,  societa  di  mutuo  soccorso  in  Italy,  Sygekasscn 
in  Denmark,  etc.  Their  revenues  are  derived  from  either  member- 
ship dues  or  special  assessments  on  members;  in  some  European 
countries  these  revenues  are  supplemented  by  a  State  subsidy. 
(See  FRATERNAL  ORDERS;  INDUSTRIAL  BENEFIT  SOCIETIES.) 

Mutual  Insurance.  As  a  main  method  or  function  of  trade 
unionism,  this  is  defined  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb  as  "the 
provision  of  a  fund  by  common  subscription  to  insure  against  casual- 
ties; to  provide  maintenance,  that  is  to  say,  in  cases  in  which  a  mem- 
ber is  deprived  of  his  livelihood  by  causes  over  which  neither  he  nor 
the  union  has  any  control."  Other  writers,  however,  extend  the 
definition  to  include  also  insurance  against  risks  deliberately  incurred 
in  the  struggle  of  the  workers  to  protect  or  improve  their  standard 
of  life,  thus  covering  union  payments  to  members  on  strike;  and 
it  is  in  this  extended  meaning  that  the  term  is  perhaps  most  com- 
monly understood.  The  provision  of  insurance  against  various  con- 
tingencies has  always  been  an  important  feature  of  trade  union 
policy.  It  is  strictly  subordinate,  however,  to  the  primary  purpose 
of  affecting  the  terms  and  conditions  of  employment.  In  some  cases, 
as  that  of  insurance  against  UNEMPLOYMENT,  it  has  a  direct  bearing 
upon  the  primary  purpose  of  unionism.  The  man  who  has  no  resource 
but  his  labor  must  of  necessity  sell  his  labor  to  the  first  bidder  at 
whatever  price  is  offered,  in  order  to  keep  himself  and  those  dependent 
upon  him  from  starvation.  If  the  union  furnishes  subsistence  to 
those  who  are  for  the  time  being  unable  to  obtain  employment  on 
such  terms  as  it  considers  just,  it  enables  them  to  stand  out  for  the 
union  wages.  Other  forms  of  insurance,  like  those  against  death 
and  sickness,  do  not  have  so  direct  and  evident  a  bearing  upon  trade 
conditions.  Though  the  provision  of  insurance  is  only  a  secondary 
purpose  of  a  union,  it  is  yet  one  of  no  slight  importance  in  attracting 
new  members,  and  of  yet  greater  importance  in  holding  old  ones. 
One  who  has  for  years  contributed  to  the  union  treasury,  and  has 
acquired  and  maintained  a  right  to  certain  BENEFITS  in  case  of  sick- 
ness or  death,  will  be  much  slower  to  drop  out  for  any  slight  cause 
than  if  the  insurance  system  did  not  exist.  The  bond  is  particularly 
strong  if  the  amount  of  benefit  payable  to  each  member  increases 
with  the  length  of  his  continuous  membership.  This  increase  of 
loyalty  and  of  permanence  is,  perhaps,  the  chief  gain  which  the  union, 
as  an  organization,  derives  from  the  insurance  system.  The  possi- 

[332] 


bility  of  ejecting  a  member  from  the  union,  and  so  ending  his  claim 
for  benefit,  constitutes  another  advantage  to  the  organization,  in 
that  it  furnishes  an  additional  means  of  DISCIPLINE.  There  are  con- 
siderable differences  of  system  between  British  and  American  unions 
in  respect  to  their  benefit  payments,  possibly  due  in  part  to  the  more 
recent  development  of  trade  unionism  here,  but  partly  due  to  char- 
acteristic differences  of  organization.  In  Great  Britain,  when  the 
local  unions  began  to  coalesce  into  broader  organizations,  the  local 
treasuries  were  regularly  treated  as  common  property,  and  all  the 
funds  were  subjected  to  a  common  authority.  In  the  United  States 
the  treasury  of  each  national  union  is,  as  a  rule,  distinct  from  the 
local  treasuries,  and  is  supported  by  a  specific  tax  upon  the  local 
unions.  The  local  unions,  in  many  cases,  maintain  insurance  systems 
of  their  own,  supplemental  to  any  insurance  which  the  national 
organizations  may  furnish.  Thus,  a  large  proportion  of  the  insurance 
benefits  paid  by  American  unions  do  not  pass  through  the  treasuries 
of  the  national  organizations.  They  are  paid  by  the  local  unions 
under  local  regulations.  Mutual  insurance  as  a  trade  union  function 
has  made  the  greatest  headway  in  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  and 
it  has  been  an  important  factor  in  the  tremendous  growth  of  trade 
unionism  in  those  countries.  It  is  weakest,  probably,  in  France. 
(See  SOCIAL  INSURANCE;  MUTUALITE.) 

Mutual  Interest  Department.  See  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
DEPARTMENT. 

Mutualism.  Some  writers  have  preferred  this  term  as  a 
more  desirable  designation  than  SOCIALISM  for  the  underlying  basis 
of  the  future  COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH.  One  such  writer, 
Professor  Frank  Parsons,  speaks  of  it  as  follows:  "The  term  mutual- 
ism is  used  to  denote  a  condition  of  society  in  which  the  governing 
principle  is  mutual  help.  When  two  persons  work  together  in  part- 
nership or  live  together  in  harmonious  family  life  we  have  mutualism 
in  miniature.  When  the  principle  of  partnership  or  union  of  owner- 
ship, effort  and  control  for  the  common  benefit,  shall  be  extended 
to  the  whole  social  life  of  city,  State,  and  nation,  we  shall  have  a 
mutualism  complete  upon  the  plane  of  justice.  And  when  love  and 
brotherhood  become  the  animating  principle  of  the  partnership, 
and  each  member  of  society  not  merely  cooperates  with  the  rest, 
but  devotes  himself  to  the  welfare  of  the  rest,  we  shall  have  a  mutual- 
ism of  the  loftiest  type.  The  earlier  outward  steps  toward  mutualism 
are  the  public  ownership  of  monopolies  and  the  growth  of  cooperative 
enterprises,  which  processes,  meeting  each  other  halfway,  will  bring 

[333] 


about  a  common  ownership  of  the  means  of  production  and  distri- 
bution, industrial  self-government  or  democracy,  economic  equality, 
and  a  cooperative  character." 

Mutualite.  "Friendly"  or  MUTUAL  INSURANCE  activities  on 
the  part  of  organized  labor  are  so  called  in  France.  Such  activities 
are  decidedly  limited,  owing  partly  to  the  reluctance  of  French  work- 
ers to  pay  high  union  contributions,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  the 
SYNDICAT  (trade  union)  generally  regards  itself  as  a  fighting  organiza- 
tion and  is  prepared  to  fight  without  funds.  Sickness  and  OUT-OF- 
WORK  PAY  are  exceptional,  and  even  STRIKE  PAY  is  seldom  given 
regularly.  This  latter  deficiency  is  often  supplied  by  other  means, 
however;  voluntary  contributions  are  sent  to  the  strikers  from  workers 
in  other  trades  and  districts,  food  is  often  supplied  by  the  local 
BOURSE  DU  TRAVAIL,  and  the  children  of  strikers  are  boarded  out 
free  in  other  neighborhoods.  Mutual  aid  activities  are  more  com- 
monly found  in  the  REFORMIST  than  in  the  revolutionary  syndicats. 
(See  Sou  DU  SOLDAT;  CAISSE  DE  SECOURS  MUTUEL;  UNION  DEPART- 
MENTALE;  MUTUELLISME  SYNDICAL.) 

Mutuality.  In  certain  British  skilled  trades  where  PIECE 
WORK  prices  are  not  standardized  in  a  written  or  printed  PRICE  LIST, 
this  is  the  method  whereby  the  fixing  of  the  piece  price  for  an  in- 
dividual job  is  accomplished  by  mutual  agreement  between  the  em- 
ployer, acting  through  his  representative,  and  the  workman  or  work- 
men who  perform  the  job.  "Where  this  occurs,  individual  mutuality 
has  often  a  measure  of  collective  backing;  for  the  men  in  the  shop 
naturally  act  together  in  the  adjustment  of  piece  prices,  either  through 
an  organized  committee  or  by  unorganized  cooperation.  Thus 
piece-work  prices  become  to  some  extent  fixed  by  workshop  custom; 
but  even  so,  there  is  usually  no  approach  to  the  fixity  and  almost 
automatic  operation  of  the  standard  price  list." 

Mutuellisme  Syndical.  In  France,  the  theory  of  trade 
unionism  as  primarily  or  largely  devoted  to  benevolent  or  MUTUAL 
INSURANCE  activities — a  theory  which  is  for  the  most  part  rejected. 
(See  MuTUALiTfi.) 


N 


N.  P.  L.    See  NON-PARTISAN  LEAGUE. 

National  Adjustment  Board.  A  body  formed  by  authority 
of  the  United  States  Railroad  Administration  to  adjudicate  disputes 
between  railway  employees  and  railway  managements  arising  in 
connection  with  the  so-called  NATIONAL  AGREEMENTS  IN  THE  RAIL- 
WAY INDUSTRY,  adopted  during  1919-1920. 

National  Adjustment  Commission.  A  war-time  agency  for 
the  settlement  of  industrial  disputes  and  the  determination  of  wages 
and  working  conditions  in  connection  with  the  loading  and  unloading 
of  American  shipping.  As  reconstituted  on  a  peace-time  basis  in 
September,  1919,  the  Commission  was  made  up  of  five  active  members 
— a  neutral  chairman,  named  by  the  United  States  Shipping  Board; 
two  members  representing  private  ship-owning  interests;  and  two 
members  representing  the  International  Longshoremen's  Association. 
Advisory  representation  was  accorded  the  Departments  of  War,  Navy, 
Commerce,  and  Labor.  The  United  States  Shipping  Board  with- 
drew from  the  Commission  in  October,  1920,  thus  practically  scuttling 
the  entire  arrangement. 

National  Agreement.  A  TRADE  AGREEMENT  which  is  appli- 
cable to  a  specific  industry  throughout  the  entire  country  is  com- 
monly so  called — in  contradistinction  to  any  form  of  local  or  dis- 
trict agreement.  (See  NATIONAL  AGREEMENTS  IN  THE  RAILWAY 
INDUSTRY.) 

National  Agreements  in  the  Railway  Industry.  A  series  of 
TRADE  AGREEMENTS  made  late  in  1919  and  early  in  1920  between 
the  United  States  Railroad  Administration  and  representatives  of 
the  organized  railway  employees.  They  are  not  wage  scales,  but 
mainly  WORKING  RULES  covering  CLASSIFICATION,  OVERTIME,  and 
similar  matters.  When  the  railroads  were  handed  back  to  private 
ownership,  the  "national  agreements"  remained  in  force,  and  it 
has  been  customary  to  decide  disputes  between  employers  and  em- 

[335] 


ployees  according  to  them,  though  the  war  emergency  is  a  thing  of 
the  past.  In  response  to  pressure  from  the  railway  executives,  the 
RAILROAD  LABOR  BOARD  announced  in  April,  1921,  that  the  national 
agreements  would  be  abrogated  on  July  i  following.  By  that  date, 
however,  the  roads  and  their  employees  must  have  negotiated  new 
contracts,  which  must  conform  to  sixteen  basic  general  principles 
specified  by  the  Board. 

National  Autonomy.     See  AUTONOMY. 

National  Board  for  Jurisdictional  Awards  in  the  Building 
Industry.  At  its  annual  convention  in  1919  the  BUILDING  TRADES 
DEPARTMENT  of  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OP  LABOR  adopted  a 
plan  to  settle  disputes  over  work  that  is  claimed  by  more  than  one 
building  trade.  This  is  effected  through  a  body  known  as  the  Na- 
tional Board  for  Jurisdictional  Awards  in  the  Building  Industry, 
"to  hear  claims  for  JURISDICTION  over  work  performed  by  building 
trades,  and  to  determine  by  which  trade  the  work  in  contention 
shall  be  performed  and  to  make  an  award  in  conformity  with  the 
facts  submitted  by  the  contendents."  No  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE 
because  of  a  Jurisdictional  claim  is  permitted.  The  board  consists 
of  eight  members,  three  selected  by  the  Building  Trades  Department 
of  the  A.  F.  of  L.,  and  one  each  by  the  American  Institute  of  Archi- 
tects, the  Engineering  Council,  the  Associated  General  Contractors  of 
America,  the  National  Association  of  Builders'  Exchanges,  and  the 
National  Building  Trades  Employers'  Association.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  board  are  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

National  Catholic  Union  of  Canada.  See  CANADIAN  LABOR 
ORGANIZATIONS. 

National  Child  Labor  Committee.    See  LABOR  LEGISLATION. 

National  Civic  Federation.  A  private  association  of  prom- 
inent American  business  men,  financiers,  and  professional  persons, 
organized  in  1901  for  "the  promotion  of  industrial  peace  by  develop- 
ing direct  relations  between  employers,  the  workers,  and  the  general 
public,"  these  three  classes  being  represented  on  the  executive 
committee  of  the  organization.  It  opposes  all  radical  labor  tenden- 
cies, and  thus  receives  the  support  of  only  the  most  conservative 
elements  in  the  labor  movement.  It  has  worked  in  close  cooperation 
with  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OP  LABOR,  and  has  been  a  consid- 
erable factor  in  the  success  of  that  organization.  The  National 
Civic  Federation  maintains  a  "Woman's  Department,"  the  purpose 

[336] 


of  which  is  "to  secure  needed  improvements  in  the  working  and 
living  conditions  of  women  wage  earners  in  the  various  industries 
and  governmental  institutions,  to  do  practical  work  in  each  emer- 
gency as  it  arises,  and  to  cooperate  in  the  general  work  of  the  Feder- 
ation." 

National  Clearing  House  for  Labor.  Owing  to  lack  of 
funds,  the  UNITED  STATES  EMPLOYMENT  SERVICE  has  recently  been 
obliged  to  transfer  or  abandon  practically  all  of  its  independent 
field  activities,  and  to  concentrate  upon  the  task  of  coordinating 
the  efforts  of  state  and  municipal  authorities  in  employment  work. 
The  Federal  government  now  conducts  no  field  work,  and  operates  no 
EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS.  All  PLACEMENT  WORK,  all  intrastate  clear- 
ance, all  the  work  of  collecting  information  relating  to  employment 
and  industrial  conditions  is  carried  on  by  the  states,  or  by  munici- 
palities responsible  to  and  acting  in  behalf  of  the  states  in  which 
they  are  situated.  The  states  report  to  the  Federal  office  on  the  em- 
ployment activities  of  its  several  offices,  on  the  industrial  situation 
from  week  to  week,  on  the  LABOR  SURPLUS  or  deficit  from  day  to  day, 
and  on  their  shipments  of  labor  to  other  states.  The  Federal  office 
receives  and  analyzes  the  stream  of  information  which  is  thus  poured 
in  and  directs  it  into  channels  of  usefulness  for  the  benefit  of  the  states 
from  which  it  was  derived  and  of  the  nation  as  a  whole.  (For  a  more 
detailed  account  of  the  general  plan  by  which  the  Employment 
Service  will  function  as  a  "national  clearing  house  for  labor"  see 
ZONE  CLEARANCE  SYSTEM  and  INDUSTRIAL  EMPLOYMENT  SURVEY.) 

National  Consumers'  League.    See  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUES. 

National  Convention.  In  many  American  national  and 
international  unions,  the  annual  or  biennial  convention  of  delegates 
from  the  various  local  unions  is  perhaps  the  most  important  feature 
in  the  national  administrative  machinery.  It  is  often  the  highest 
authority  of  the  national  union,  exercising  executive  and  judicial 
as  well  as  legislative  functions.  In  its  legislative  capacity  it  may 
have  equal  authority  to  pass  every  kind  of  rule.  "At  one  moment, 
therefore,  the  convention  may  be  remodeling  the  entire  machinery 
of  government,  or  transferring  important  functions  from  the  local 
unions  to  the  international  union;  at  another,  it  may  be  passing  an 
unimportant  rule  to  the  effect  that  the  UNION  LABEL  shall  be  printed 
on  red  instead  of  blue  paper."  Acting  as  a  judicial  tribunal,  the 
convention  considers  grievances  brought  by  national  officers,  local 
unions,  or  members,  and  these  grievances  may  involve  violations  of 

[337] 


the  rules  of  local  unions  as  well  as  those  of  the  national  union.  As 
an  executive  body,  it  fixes  the  amount  of  dues  and  assessments;  it 
controls  disbursements;  it  orders  strikes  against  employers.  The 
convention  has  the  final  power  in  making  agreements.  Even  when 
COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  is  conducted  by  the  local  unions,  the  na- 
tional union  frequently  fixes  rules  of  APPRENTICESHIP,  hours  of  labor, 
and  other  conditions  of  employment  which  the  subordinate  locals 
must  demand  from  employers.  The  convention  performs  many 
other  functions.  It  elects  officers,  and  audits  their  accounts.  Through 
its  committees  it  performs  at  times  a  wide  variety  of  detailed  ad- 
ministrative duties  which  in  a  political  government  are  usually 
delegated  to  the  executive  officers.  Representation  in  the  convention 
is  sometimes  on  an  equal  basis,  with  one  delegate  for  each  local 
regardless  of  its  size,  sometimes  on  a  proportional  basis.  In  some 
national  unions,  the  expense  of  sending  delegates  to  the  convention 
is  borne  by  the  national  body;  in  others  the  local  or  district  bodies 
bear  the  expense;  while  in  still  others  the  expense  is  divided  between 
the  national  organization  and  the  local  or  district  bodies.  (See 
TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — NATIONAL;  BLOCK  VOTE;  FRATERNAL 
DELEGATES;  INITIATIVE  AND  REFERENDUM.) 

National  Deputy.     See  DEPUTY  SYSTEM. 

National  Economy.  In  an  historical  sense  the  third,  and  what 
is  commonly  considered  the  present,  stage  of  economic  organization. 
The  social  basis  of  industry  is  now  nationality — instead  of  blood- 
relationship  as  under  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMY,  or  contiguity  as  under 
TOWN  ECONOMY.  Community  in  production  and  community  in  con- 
sumption become  distinct  and  separate.  Commodities  are  no  longer 
mainly  consumption  goods  as  in  household  economy,  or  mainly 
articles  of  exchange  as  in  town  economy,  but  commercial  wares. 
The  consumer  no  longer  stands  in  any  direct  relation  to  the  laborer, 
but  purchases  his  goods  from  the  ENTREPRENEUR  or  merchant,  by 
whom  the  laborer  is  paid.  Money  becomes  a  medium  of  exchange 
and  of  profit-making  as  well.  Capital  becomes  predominant;  credit 
spreads  to  every  sphere  of  industrial  life;  the  FACTORY  SYSTEM, 
LARGE-SCALE  PRODUCTION,  and  minute  DIVISION  OF  LABOR  become 
universal.  While  national  economy  has  already  been  succeeded, 
in  considerable  part,  by  international  or  world  economy,  the  latter 
is  as  yet  not  sufficiently  organized  to  be  considered  an  established 
successor  to  national  economy.  (See  WAGE  SYSTEM;  GREAT  IN- 
DUSTRY.) 

National  Executive.    See  CENTRAL  EXECUTIVE. 

[338] 


National  Federation  of  General  Workers.  A  British  or- 
ganization, formed  in  May,  1917,  which  includes  eleven  important 
national  unions  of  GENERAL  WORKERS,  known  as  GENERAL  LABOR 
UNIONS,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  over  800,006.  It  is  a 
development  of  the  earlier  General  Laborers'  National  Council 
(formed  in  1908),  a  consultative  body  having  for  its  principal  function 
the  prevention  of  OVERLAPPING  and  conflict  among  the  different 
unions  of  general  workers.  The  Federation  took  a  significant  step 
towards  unification  in  November,  1919,  in  appointing  ten  District 
Committees,  consisting  of  two  representatives  of  each  of  the  affil- 
iated societies,  charged  to  consult  with  regard  to  any  local  trade 
dispute  involving  more  than  one  society. 

National  Federation  of  German  Trade  Unions.    See  NAT- 

IONALVERBAND    DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTEN. 

National  Federation  of  Women  Workers.  The  largest 
separate  organization  for  women  workers  in  Great  Britain.  This 
body  works  in  close  alliance  with  the  Women's  Trade  Union  League, 
a  federal  propagandist  body  to  which  many  of  the  MIXED  UNIONS 
are  affiliated.  The  policy  of  both  the  League  and  the  Federation 
is  to  get  women  into  mixed  unions  wherever  such  unions  exist,  and 
the  Federation  acts  rather  as  a  clearing-house,  and  as  an  organiza- 
tion for  women  workers  for  whom  no  special  provision  exists,  than 
as  a  general  association  for  all  women  workers.  (See  MARRIAGE 
BENEFITS.) 

National  Guilds  Movement.     See  GUILD  SOCIALISM. 

National  Guildsmen.  Advocates  of  GUILD  SOCIALISM  thus 
designate  themselves. 

National  Industrial  Councils.  As  formulated  in  the  WHIT- 
LEY  PLAN,  a  national  industrial  council  is  a  voluntary  body  repre- 
sentative of  the  national  trade  unions  and  employers'  associations 
for  an  entire  industry  in  England.  It  is  closely  linked  with  the  two 
classes  of  sub-bodies,  the  DISTRICT  COUNCILS  and  the  WORKS  COMMIT- 
TEES, in  the  same  industry,  and  deals  only  with  larger  questions 
(such  as  wages  and  hours)  affecting  the  industry  as  a  whole.  The 
British  government  recognizes  the  Councils  "as  the  official  standing 
consultative  committees  to  the  government  affecting  the  industries 
which  they  represent,  and  the  normal  channel  through  which  the 
opinion  and  experience  of  an  industry  will  be  sought  on  all  questions 
in  which  the  industry  is  concerned."  National  councils  have  been 

[339] 


established  in  some  twenty  leading  English  industries.  In  a  more 
general  sense,  the  term  "national  industrial  council"  is  often  used 
in  designation  of  any  joint  body  representative  of  employers  and 
workers  in  a  single  industry  throughout  the  country — as  for  example, 
the  PRINTING  TRADES  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  CONFERENCE  COUNCIL. 

National  Insurance  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary  enactment 
of  1911,  described  in  its  title  as  "an  Act  to  provide  for  insurance 
against  loss  of  health  and  for  the  prevention  and  cure  of  sickness." 
The  Act  was  amended,  mainly  in  the  direction  of  simplification,  in 

1918.  With  certain  exceptions,  all  employed  persons  in  the  United 
Kingdom  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  seventy,  unless  employed 
otherwise  than  by  manual  labor  at  a  rate  of  remuneration  exceeding 
£250  a  year,  are  required  to  be  insured.    Both  the  employed  person 
and  his  employer  must  make  small  weekly  payments  in  support 
of  the  scheme,  and  these  payments  are  supplemented  by  a  State 
subsidy.    The  BENEFITS  provided  under  the  Act  are  medical,  sani- 
torium  (for  tubercular  persons),  sickness,  maternity,  and  disablement 
benefits.    The  national  health  insurance  system  which  the  Act  em- 
bodies may  be  said  to  be  built  on  the  work  of  the  great  British 
FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES;  by  the  side  of  these  large  organizations,  other 
societies  such  as  trade  unions,  SICK  CLUBS,  ESTABLISHMENT  FUNDS, 
and  similar  voluntary  associations  had  for  many  years  provided 
insurance  or  relief  from  distress  due  to  sickness,  injury,  unemploy- 
ment, death,  etc.    When  the  State  insurance  system  was  planned, 
it  was  decided  to  use  these  voluntary  organizations  as  carriers  of 
the  system  as  far  as  the  pecuniary  benefits  were  concerned.    These 
societies,  if  they  meet  with  the  requirements  of  the  law,  are  desig- 
nated as  "approved  societies";  the  approval  is  given  by  the  authori- 
ties on  submission  of  proof  showing  that  they  are  not  conducted  for 
profit,  that  they  are  controlled  by  the  members,  and  that  they  are 
in  a  position  to  carry  out  the  requirements  of  the  law.    (See  UNEM- 
PLOYMENT INSURANCE  ACT,  1920;  INVALIDITY  INSURANCE.) 

National  Labor  Party.     Organized  at  Chicago  in  November, 

1919,  by  labor,  farmer,  and  cooperative  groups  throughout  the 
United  States.    The  labor  element  consisted  largely  of  those  members 
of  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  who  opposed  the  Federa- 
tion's policy  of  non-political  activities.    The  party  declared  for  the 
NATIONALIZATION  of  all  unused  land,  public  utilities,  and  basic  in- 
dustries; demanded  free  speech   press,  and  assembly;  and  included 
various  other  planks  in  its  platform  similar  to  those  of  the  Socialist 
Party.     In  July,  1920,  the  Party  merged  into  the  FARMER-LABOR 

[340] 


PARTY  formed  at  that  time,  and  of  which  it  constitutes  the  largest 
element.  Although  generally  known  as  the  National  Labor  Party, 
its  official  title  was  the  Labor  Party  of  the  United  States. 

National  Labor  Union.  An  American  organization  which 
flourished  for  several  years  after  the  Civil  War.  It  was  a  delegate 
body,  consisting  of  representatives  of  local,  state,  and  national 
trade  associations  the  membership  of  which  at  one  time  was  reported 
to  be  640,000.  Seven  annual  conventions  were  held,  beginning  in 
1866.  During  its  brief  existence  the  National  Labor  Union  gave 
a  considerable  impetus  to  the  EIGHT-HOUR  MOVEMENT,  and  to  the 
movement  for  public  bureaus  of  labor  statistics.  It  took  an  active 
interest  in  politics  (in  particular,  GREENBACKISM)  and  COOPERATION. 

National  League  of  Women  Workers.  Organized  1897,  to 
promote  the  interests  of  American  working  girls  and  women  through 
clubs  which  offer  social  and  educational  opportunities.  All  clubs  are 
self-governing,  non-sectarian,  and  either  partially  or  wholly  self- 
supporting.  The  League  numbers  124  clubs,  with  an  approximate 
membership  of  18,000.  Individual  clubs  are  federated  into  State 
Leagues,  which  in  turn  are  members  of  the  National  League. 

National  Minimum.  A  phrase  brought  into  currency  by 
Sidney  Webb  to  characterize  the  proposal  for  establishing  national 
standards  of  education,  sanitation,  health,  labor,  and  so  forth,  below 
which  no  member  of  an  industrial  community  must  be  permitted 
to  sink.  This  phrase  is  sometimes  applied  specifically  to  wages  and 
hours. 

National  Officers.  In  the  central  organization  of  nearly 
all  American  NATIONAL  OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNIONS  there  are  found  at 
least  two  permanent  salaried  officials — a  president  and  a  secretary 
or  secretary-treasurer.  "The  president  acts  as  chairman  at  meet- 
ings Of  the  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  and  Of  the  GENERAL  EXECUTIVE 

BOARD.  He  has  supervision  over  the  administrative  affairs  of  the 
organization.  He  is  a  policeman  enforcing  the  rules,  and  is  fre- 
quently also  a  judge.  He  travels  often  to  various  parts  of  the  country 
to  organize  new  local  unions,  to  encourage  the  weak  ones,  and  to 
adjust  disputes  between  the  workmen  and  their  employers.  The 
secretary  or  secretary-treasurer  acts  as  secretary  at  meetings  of 
the  convention  and  of  the  general  executive  board.  He  serves  as 
a  medium  of  communication  between  the  local  societies  and  the 
central  union.  He  edits  the  TRADE  ORGAN,  save  in  a  few  organiza- 
tions which  have  created  a  special  official  for  this  purpose  or  which 

[34i] 


entrust  the  president  with  this  duty.  He  keeps  the  financial  accounts, 
and  in  a  large  majority  of  unions  also  has  charge  of  the  funds." 
In  some  of  the  larger  unions,  however,  the  funds  are  in  charge  of  a 
separate  officer,  the  treasurer;  and  the  secretary  is  further  relieved 
by  several  subordinate  paid  officials,  each  handling  a  specialized 
branch  of  secretarial  work.  The  president,  also,  is  assisted  by  various 
travelling  officials — STRIKE  DEPUTIES,  ORGANIZERS,  LABEL  AGITATORS, 
etc.  There  may  be,  in  addition,  one  or  more  vice-presidents,  who 
in  some  cases  attend  to  the  field  work  of  the  organization.  The 
national  officers  are  elected  sometimes  by  popular  vote,  sometimes 
by  the  national  convention,  and  they  are  usually  subject  to  the 
authority  of  the  convention  in  other  than  routine  matters.  Their 
powers  are  also  limited,  as  a  rule,  by  the  general  executive  board. 
(See  TRADE  UNION  GOVERNMENT — NATIONAL;  DEPUTY  SYSTEM; 
STATISTICIANS.) 

National  or  International  Union.  In  the  American  labor 
movement  the  national  and  international  unions  represent  practically 
a  single  type.  The  typical  national  union  aspires  to  control  all  the 
workers  of  a  single  craft  or  trade,  or  of  all  crafts  or  trades  in  a  single 
industry,  in  the  United  States.  The  international  union  aspires  to 
similar  control,  but  includes  also  workers  in  Canada  and  (in  a  few 
cases)  Mexico.  It  sometimes  happens  that  unions  which  are  called 
"national"  do  not  in  fact  have  members  outside  of  a  limited  terri- 
tory— as  for  example,  certain  unions  in  the  cotton  trade,  whose 
membership  is  practically  confined  to  New  England.  National 
and  international  unions  are  made  up  of  local  unions,  which  possess 
more  or  less  complete  autonomy,  and  which  join  in  one  way  or  another 
in  the  government  of  the  general  body.  The  latter's  functions  are 
thus  stated  in  Hoxie's  "Trade  Unionism  in  the  United  States": 
"Through  its  officers,  ORGANIZERS,  and  charters,  it  creates  LOCALS 
and  intermediate  subordinate  organizations.  Through  charters  and 
constitutional  provisions  it  determines  membership,  and  member- 
ship conditions  and  privileges;  the  functional  character  of  locals; 
their  officers  and  duties;  DISCIPLINE  of  members  and  general  conduct 
of  the  affairs  of  the  local.  Through  the  constitution  it  determines 
the  general  economic  policy  and  methods  of  the  local — formulates 
the  general  WORKING  RULES;  sanctions  or  rejects  local  demands 
upon  employers;  determines  the  rules  for  negotiating  agreements 
and  for  the  calling  and  conduct  of  strikes.  Through  the  constitution 
and  officers  it  controls  and  administers  the  general  finances  and 
insurance  funds  of  the  union.  It  publishes  the  TRADE  ORGAN  and 

[342] 


is  the  general  source  of  the  trade  propaganda  material  and  publicity." 
Generally  the  structural  units  of  a  national  union  are  the  central 
organization  and  its  various  locals;  but  some  unions  have  certain 
intermediary  bodies,  such  as  local,  district,  and  state  councils,  or 
other  delegate  organizations  representative  usually  of  the  locals. 
The  great  majority  of  national  or  international  unions  are  affiliated 
in  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  Of  the  titles  assumed  by 
the  type  of  labor  organization  dealt  with  in  this  paragraph,  the  com- 
monest are  "union,"  "association,"  "brotherhood,"  "society," 
"alliance,"  "order,"  "league,"  etc.  These  names  are  used  with 
various  descriptive  or  impressive  adjectives.  In  some  cases  the 
organization  is  known  by  such  a  title  as  "United  Mine  Workers  of 
America"  or  "International  Jewelry  Workers."  (See  TRADE  UNION 
GOVERNMENT — NATIONAL;  MEMBERS  AT  LARGE;  RAILWAY  BROTH- 
ERHOODS; INTERNATIONAL.) 

National  Safety  Code  Committee.     See  SAFETY  CODES. 

National  Socialist  Party  (British).  See  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC 
FEDERATION. 

National  Trades'  Union.  The  pioneer  national  organization 
of  wage-earners  in  the  United  States;  formed  at  New  York  City 
in  1834,  as  a  federation  of  local  unions  and  of  the  central  trades 
unions  in  different  cities.  It  began  merely  as  an  advisory  body  with 
no  disciplinary  powers;  but  its  constitution  was  altered  in  1836  to 
allow  it  to  exercise  certain  authority  over  its  constituent  bodies.  It 
disappeared  after  the  panic  of  1837. 

National  War  Labor  Board.  A  Federal  board  of  ARBITRA- 
TION formed  in  1918,  under  the  supervision  of  the  UNITED  STATES 
DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR,  to  adjust  industrial  disputes  in  plants 
engaged  in  work  essential  to  the  war.  It  was  composed  of  an  equal 
number  of  members  nominated  respectively  by  the  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  and  the  National  Industrial  Conference 
Board,  and  had  two  chairmen,  one  representing  each  side.  The 
principles  which  it  adopted  as  a  basis  of  procedure,  and  its  subse- 
quent awards,  set  up  many  precedents  in  labor  adjustment.  It  was 
dissolved  at  the  end  of  June,  1919. 

National  Women's  Trade  Union  League  of  America. 
Formed  in  1905,  to  secure  the  organization  of  all  women  workers 
of  the  United  States  into  trade  unions,  with  EQUAL  PAY  FOR  EQUAL 
WORK,  the  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY,  a  LIVING  WAGE,  and  full  citizenship 

[343] 


for  women.  The  League  admits  to  membership  all  working  women, 
whether  trade  unionists  or  not,  and  women  who,  though  not  of  the 
"working  class,"  are  interested  in  the  League's  purposes.  Several 
city  leagues  subordinate  to  the  national  body  have  since  been  formed. 
The  League  holds  biennial  conventions,  keeps  several  women  ORGAN- 
IZERS in  the  field,  maintains  a  school  at  Chicago  in  which  women 
are  trained  for  work  as  organizers,  and  through  both  national  and 
local  bodies  takes  an  active  part  in  various  labor  activities.  (See 
INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS  OF  WORKING  WOMEN.) 

Nationalization.  As  ordinarily  used,  this  phrase  summarizes 
the  demand,  voiced  by  a  considerable  section  of  the  labor  movement 
in  every  large  country,  that  the  existing  machinery  of  industrial 
production  and  distribution,  in  particular  such  fundamental  social 
assets  as  land,  mines,  railways,  etc.,  be  transferred  from  private 
capitalistic  to  public  governmental  ownership,  and  conducted  on 
a  non-competitive  basis  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 
Nationalization  means  simply  the  transfer  from  private  to  communal 
ownership  of  any  or  all  of  the  means  of  production  or  distribution. 
Such  transfer  could  be  effected  either  by  government  purchase  or 
by  government  expropriation  in  the  public  interest.  "Nationaliza- 
tion" has  been  called  an  unfortunate  term  in  that  it  covers  in  a  single 
ambiguous  word  two  separate  and  distinct  functions — ownership 
and  administration.  Public  ownership  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means 
to  an  end;  and  when  the  question  of  ownership  has  been  settled, 
that  of  administration  remains  for  separate  solution.  This  latter 
may  take  any  one  of  half  a  dozen  forms — some  centralized  and  some 
decentralized.  Nationalization  on  a  comprehensive  scale  is  the  cen- 
tral item  in  the  creed  of  SOCIALISM  in  general,  and  of  STATE  SOCIALISM 
in  particular.  (See  SOCIALIZATION;  INDUSTRIALIZED  NATIONALIZA- 
TION; NATIONALIZATION  IN  RUSSIA;  PLUMB  PLAN;  SANKEY  COM- 
MISSION; REICHSKOHLENRAT;  NATIONALIZERS.) 

Nationalization  in  Russia.  According  to  the  report  of  the 
British  labor  delegation,  issued  in  July,  1920,  practically  all  of  the 
large  industries  of  Russia — the  coal,  iron,  gold,  and  platinum  mines, 
the  oil  wells,  locomotive  and  machine  works,  metal  industries, 
textile  industries,  railways  and  shipping — together  with  certain 
smaller  industries  such  as  salt  and  cement  making,  have  been  taken 
over  by  the  national  government.  The  retail  shops  have  also  been 
nationalized,  and  so  has  banking.  In  the  case  of  the  shops,  this  has 
led  in  practice  to  their  closing,  but  not  to  the  stoppage  of  retail 
trade.  Banking,  on  the  other  hand,  is  being  converted  into  a  central 

[344] 


bookkeeping  department  of  the  State.  There  are  5000  nationalized 
enterprises,  of  which  2500  are  grouped  into  179  "trusts"  and  are 
directed  by  the  SUPREME  COUNCIL  OF  PUBLIC  ECONOMY;  the  remain- 
ing 2500  are  managed  by  REGIONAL  ECONOMIC  COUNCILS  forming 
part  of  the  provincial  organization  but  directly  responsible  to  the 
Supreme  Council.  At  the  head  of  each  of  the  large  nationalized 
factories  is  a  "college  of  management,"  consisting  usually  of  one  or 
two  persons  nominated  by  the  workers,  one  or  two  by  the  technical 
staff,  and  one  by  the  regional  economic  council.  The  minor  details 
of  internal  management  are  handled  directly  by  the  workers,  func- 
tioning through  their  WORKS  COMMITTEES  and  SHOP  COMMITTEES. 
(See  INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Nationalizers.  Advocates  of  NATIONALIZATION  among  British 
trade  unionists  are  often  so  called. 

NationalverbandDeutscher  Gewerkschaften  (National  Fed- 
eration of  German  Trade  Unions).  A  federation  of  many  of  the 
so-called  YELLOW  UNIONS  or  "peaceful  unions"  of  Germany — 
those  initiated  or  controlled  mainly  by  large  industrial  concerns. 
The  Nationaherband  is  of  recent  formation;  its  avowed  object  is 
said  to  be  that  of  "obtaining  the  strongest  possible  representation 
in  the  WORKS  COUNCILS,  and  of  making  these  the  organs  of  increased 
production  instead  of  organs  for  the  bolshevisation  of  German  life." 

Native  Labor.  The  problem  of  native  labor  in  so-called 
"backward"  countries,  both  tropical  and  non-tropical,  is  one  of. 
immense  extent  and  gravity.  As  summarized  in  the  "Labor  Inter- 
national Handbook,"  this  problem  "falls  quite  easily  into  a  two- 
fold category :  (a)  colored  labor  in  the  non-colonisable  areas  of  the 
world;  and  (b)  labor  in  the  colonisable  parts  of  the  world.  The 
difference  in  these  two  territories  is  that  in  the  colonisable  areas  the 
white  man  can  engage  in  manual  labor;  he  can  take  to  these  countries 
his  wife  and  family ;  there  they  can  be  educated  and  enjoy  practically 
all  the  social  amenities  of  the  more  temperate  zones.  White  labor 
thus  comes  into  definite  competition  with  native  labor.  In  the 
non-colonisable  areas — roughly  speaking,  thirty  degrees  either  side 
of  the  equator — it  would  seem  that  for  all  time  the  white  man  will 
be  incapable  of  manual  effort,  although  he  may,  with  the  advance  of 
science,  live  for  longer  periods  in  these  territories  than  is  at  present 
possible.  There  is  a  further  division  of  quite  a  different  order  be- 
tween the  colonisable  and  non-colonisable  areas.  In  the  former  the 
main  product  is  mineral,  in  the  latter  vegetable.  .  .  .  The  prevailing 
forms  of  native  labor  in  all  these  territories  are  the  following:  (a) 

1345] 


Forced  labor;  (b)  CONTRACT  LABOR;  (c)  PEONAGE."  Forced  labor  is 
of  three  kinds:  (i)  The  indigenous  or  native  form,  consisting  mainly 
of  common  community  services  required  by  the  native  rulers; 
(2)  that  demanded  by  the  exploiting  or  "colonizing"  government 
for  porterage,  bridge-building,  railroad  construction,  etc.;  (3)  that 
used  for  private  purposes,  differing  in  no  essential  respect  from 
SLAVERY.  Under  contract  labor,  the  natives  engage  for  periods  of 
from  six  months  to  three  years  at  an  insignificant  wage  "and  found" 
— the  latter  including  housing,  food,  clothing,  medical  attendance, 
etc.  The  worst  feature  of  this  form  of  native  labor  is  that,  although 
the  contract  is  a  purely  civil  instrument,  breaches  of  contract  are 
treated  as  criminal  offenses  and  often  outrageously  punished.  The 
third  form,  peonage,  is  separately  dealt  with  under  that  heading 
in  the  present  volume. 

Natural  Selection.     See  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST. 
Natural  Taxation.    See  SINGLE  TAX. 

Naturalization  Bureau.  Originally  a  part  of  the  "Bureau 
of  Immigration  and  Naturalization,"  functioning  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  this  Bureau 
was  separately  organized  and  made  a  part  of  the  UNITED  STATES 
DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  when  that  Department  was  created  in  March, 
1913.  The  Bureau  has  control  and  supervision  over  all  matters 
relating  to  the  induction  into  fully  qualified  citizenship  of  foreign- 
born  residents  in  the  United  States. 

Navvy.  A  common  laborer  employed  in  excavation  work  of 
any  kind  is  so  nicknamed  in  England.  The  term  is  an  abbreviation 
of  "navigation,"  and  originally  had  specific  reference  to  a  laborer 
engaged  at  canal-digging. 

Nederlandsch  Arbeids  Secretariat  (Dutch  Labor  Secretariat). 
See  DUTCH  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Nederlandsch  Verbond  van  Vakvereenigingen  (Dutch  Fed- 
eration of  Trade  Unions).  See  DUTCH  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Nederlandsch  Verbond  voor  Neutrale  Vakvereenigingen 
(Dutch  Federation  of  Neutral  Trade  Unions).  See  DUTCH  LABOR 
ORGANIZATIONS. 

Needle  Trades.  The  various  trades  concerned  in  the  manu- 
facture of  clothing,  cloaks,  suits,  dresses,  waists,  skirts,  kimonos, 

[346] 


undergarments,  waterproof  garments,  millinery,  lace,  embroidery, 
cloth  hats  and  caps,  etc.,  are  generally  so  called. 

Negative  Boycott.     See  BOYCOTT. 

Negro  Economics  Division.  Organized  in  1917,  as  a  section 
of  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR,  to  formulate  plans 
for  increasing  the  efficiency  and  opportunities  of  negro  wage-earners 
and  for  improving  their  relations  with  white  workmen  and  white 
employers,  and  to  advise  the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  regarding  labor 
conditions  and  problems  in  which  the  interests  of  the  ten  million 
colored  American  citizens  might  be  involved.  With  the  cooperation 
of  a  large  field  organization,  the  Division  did  efficient  service  for 
two  years,  and  clearly  demonstrated  its  necessity  as  a  permanent 
agency  of  public  welfare.  But  owing  to  the  withdrawal  of  financial 
support  on  the  part  of  Congress,  it  has  now  largely  ceased  to  function. 

Negro  Labor.  It  has  been  estimated  that  one-seventh  of  the 
total  industrial  work  of  the  United  States  is  performed  by  negro 
laborers.  The  negro  in  the  South  supplies  most  of  the  unskilled 
labor.  The  average  colored  family  lives  on  much  less  than  the  white 
family  in  the  same  locality;  and  the  unskilled  white  rural  laborer, 
in  localities  where  negroes  constitute  the  major  proportion  of  the 
labor  supply,  is  thereby  excluded  from  selling  his  labor  in  that 
market.  In  agricultural  work,  particularly,  unskilled  negro  labor 
predominates  in  nearly  all  of  the  southern  states.  During  the  recent 
war,  negro  workers  in  large  numbers  migrated  to  the  north,  the 
movement  being  largely  induced  by  northern  employers,  chiefly 
railway  corporations,  whose  labor  supply  had  fallen  off  enormously 
as  a  result  of  the  war.  This  exodus  has  continued  to  a  considerable 
extent  since  the  war,  creating  altogether  some  serious  problems  in 
connection  with  both  southern  agriculture  and  northern  industry. 
The  number  of  negro  women  and  children  gainfully  employed  in 
the  United  States  is  unusually  large  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
white  workers.  (See  COLOR  LINE  IN  TRADE  UNIONISM;  NEGRO 
ECONOMICS  DIVISION;  AGRICULTURAL  LABOR.) 

Neo -Marxians.  Those  followers  of  Karl  Marx  who  have 
made  critical  revision  of  his  theories,  and  refuse  to  accept  all  the 
tenets  and  implications  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM,  are  sometimes 
so  called.  They  divide,  in  the  main,  into  REVISIONISTS  and  advo- 
cates Of  SYNDICALISM. 

Netherlands,  Labor  Organizations  in  the.  See  DUTCH  LABOR 
ORGANIZATIONS. 

[347] 


Neutral  Chairman.    See  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN. 

New  England  Contract  Plan.  One  form  of  the  CONTRACT 
SYSTEM  which  has  been  widely  adopted  in  the  United  States,  par- 
ticularly in  the  metal-working  industries.  Under  this  plan,  as  sum- 
marized by  F.  S.  Halsey,  "certain  leading  men,  who  are  called  some- 
times foremen  and  sometimes  contractors,  are  given  contracts  for 
doing  certain  work.  The  shop  and  its  facilities  are  the  property  of 
the  employer,  but  the  contractors  proceed  much  as  though  the  shop 
was  their  own.  They  engage  the  help  and  arrange  their  rates  of  pay, 
this  pay  being  by  the  day,  the  men  as  a  whole  having  no  interest 
in  the  contracts.  The  contractors  are  not  capitalists  and  do  not 
furnish  the  capital  or  pay  their  men,  who  are  paid  by  the  employer 
precisely  as  though  there  were  no  contract  plan  in  the  shop,  but 
the  wages  as  paid  are  charged  against  the  various  contracts,  and  as 
the  work  is  turned  in  the  contractors  are  paid  the  difference  between 
the  contract  price  and  the  wages  paid  out." 

New  Model  of  Trade  Unionism.  While  this  term  has  been 
applied  to  various  types  of  trade  union  structure  originated  during 
the  past  fifty  or  seventy-five  years,  it  is  perhaps  most  applicable  to 
the  plan  of  organization  adopted  in  the  formation  of  the  British 
National  Union  of  Railwaymen  in  1913.  This  plan  is  described 
at  length  in  the  new  (1920)  edition  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb's  "His- 
tory of  Trade  Unionism."  The  underlying  basis  is  that  known  as 

EMPLOYMENTAL  UNIONISM.      (See  ALL  GRADES  MOVEMENT.) 

New  Politics.  This  phrase  is  sometimes  used  to  denote  the 
conditions  brought  about  by  the  entry  of  the  working  classes  into 
the  political  field,  with  the  consequent  shifting  of  emphasis  from 
political  to  economic  values  in  government. 

New  Unionism.  While  the  terms  "new  unionism"  and  "old 
unionism"  have  been  used  all  through  the  trade  union  movement 
to  designate  alternating  phases  of  policy  and  purpose  at  different 
periods,  the  phrase  "new  unionism"  has  become  rather  definitely 
attached  to  the  revolt,  originating  in  England  about  the  time  of  the 
famous  London  dockers'  strike  of  1889,  against  the  type  of  "ex- 
clusive" BUSINESS  UNIONISM  which  barred  unskilled  workers  and 
emphasized  insurance,  wage  increases,  improved  working  conditions, 
etc.  In  general,  the  term  "new  unionism"  now  denotes  unionism 
with  a  revolutionary  social  aim,  organized  on  an  industrial  rather 
than  on  a  craft  basis,  including  the  unskilled  workers  and  relying 

[348] 


more  upon  DIRECT  ACTION  than  upon  POLITICAL  ACTION.     (See  OLD 
UNIONISM.) 

New  Zealand  Industrial  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Act. 
A  measure,  first  enacted  in  1894  and  since  considerably  amended, 
which  represents  the  first  important  scheme  of  State  COMPULSORY 
ARBITRATION  in  trade  disputes.  Under  this  act  New  Zealand  is 
divided  into  eight  industrial  districts,  with  a  joint  Board  of  Con- 
ciliation (composed  of  employers  and  employees  in  equal  number) 
for  each  district.  After  a  dispute  has  been  brought  before  one  of 
these  boards  a  strike  or  lockout  in  connection  with  the  dispute  is 
thenceforth  illegal.  The  board's  award  is  compulsory  unless  appeal 
is  taken  within  one  month  to  the  central  Court  of  Arbitration.  The 
latter  body  consists  of  one  member  representing  workers,  one  repre- 
senting employers,  and  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  This  body, 
like  the  district  Boards  of  Conciliation,  has  legal  power  to  enforce 
its  decisions,  individual  members  of  the  unions  or  employers'  associa- 
tions being  liable  for  the  payment  of  fines  up  to  a  certain  amount. 
The  original  Act  provided  for  a  system  of  registration  for  trade 
unions  and  employers'  associations;  no  unregistered  union  or  asso- 
ciation, and  no  individual  employer  or  employee,  could  bring  a  dis- 
pute before  a  district  board.  Under  a  late  amendment,  however, 
a  single  employer  may  now  register  under  the  Act.  Practically 
the  same  system  has  been  adopted  in  Western  Australia.  (See  NEW 
ZEALAND  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

New  Zealand  Labor  Movement.  As  an  effect  of  the  elaborate 
system  of  STATE  SOCIALISM  carried  out  in  New  Zealand  during  the 
period  1890-1914,  labor  organization  in  that  country  has  been  of 
comparatively  recent  growth.  The  system  of  COMPULSORY  ARBI- 
TRATION under  the  NEW  ZEALAND  INDUSTRIAL  CONCILIATION  AND 
ARBITRATION  ACT,  with  the  accompanying  governmental  regulation 
of  wages  and  hours,  resulted  in  a  state  of  industrial  peace  from  1894 
to  1905,  and  New  Zealand  became  famous  as  the  "country  without 
strikes."  But  since  1905  strikes  have  occurred  with  increasing  fre- 
quency, and  discontent  with  the  compulsory  arbitration  law  is  now 
widespread.  In  1920  there  were  380  trade  unions  in  New  Zealand, 
with  82,553  members — or  about  seven  per  cent  of  the  total  popula- 
tion. Of  these  unions,  190  were  organized  in  thirty  associations, 
mainly  national  federations  of  single  crafts.  The  two  predominant 
groups  are  the  New  Zealand  Workers'  Union,  which  organizes  the 
mass  of  the  rural  workers  and  is  linked  up  with  the  powerful  AUS- 
TRALIAN WORKERS'  UNION;  and  the  Alliance  of  Labor,  which  grew 

[349] 


up  out  of  the  affiliations  of  the  Waterside  and  Transport  Workers 
and  the  Miners,  and  now  includes,  among  others,  railway  and 
transport  workers,  miners,  engineers,  and  metal  workers,  on  a  basis 
of  industrial  departments.  In  November,  1920,  a  joint  conference 
of  the  Workers'  Union,  the  Alliance  of  Labor,  and  other  federations 
was  held  to  promote  unity  in  industrial  organization,  and,  in  par- 
ticular, to  find  some  basis  for  the  unification  of  the  two  predominant 
groups.  The  political  interests  of  organized  labor  are  represented 
by  the  New  Zealand  Labor  Party,  which  is  definitely  socialistic  in 
policy. 

New  Zealand  Labor  Party.  See  NEW  ZEALAND  LABOR 
MOVEMENT. 

New  Zealand  Workers'  Union.  See  NEW  ZEALAND  LABOR 
MOVEMENT. 

Newlands  Act.  A  Congressional  act  of  1913,  creating  the 
UNITED  STATES  BOARD  OF  MEDIATION  AND  CONCILIATION  for  the 
settlement  of  controversies  between  employers  and  employees  en- 
gaged in  interstate  transportation.  It  superseded  the  ERDMAN  ACT 
of  1898. 

Night  Work.  While  necessary  in  essentially  CONTINUOUS  IN- 
DUSTRIES, night  work  has  normally  no  justification  under  other  con- 
ditions, and  it  is  strongly  opposed  on  both  economic  and  social 
grounds  by  organized  labor.  Many  of  the  i4th  century  craft  guilds 
expressly  prohibited  night  work;  and  there  have  been  cases  of  Amer- 
ican trade  unions  which  refused  to  admit  habitual  night  workers. 
Even  from  the  employer's  point  of  view,  though  it  permits  of  more 
continuous  use  of  plant  and  equipment,  night  work  is  uneconomical 
owing  (in  part)  to  higher  charges  for  wages,  lighting,  heating,  super- 
vision, etc.  From  the  worker's  point  of  view,  it  is  attended  by  serious 
physical  and  moral  dangers — particularly  in  the  case  of  women  and 
children.  According  to  Commons  and  Andrews,  the  investigations 
of  the  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  FOR  LABOR  LEGISLATION,  begun 
in  1901,  "clearly  demonstrated  that  recovery  from  FATIGUE  is  ob- 
tained mainly  through  rest  and  sleep,  and  that  sound  sleep  can  rarely 
be  secured  in  the  daytime,  especially  in  the  noisy  and  crowded  homes 
of  many  working  people  in  industrial  cities.  The  lack  of  sunlight 
tends  to  produce  anaemia  and  tuberculosis  and  to  predispose  to 
other  ills.  Night  work  brings  increased  liability  to  eye  strain  and 
accident.  Serious  moral  dangers  also  are  likely  to  result  from  the 
necessity  of  travelling  the  streets  alone  at  night,  and  from  the  inter- 

[350] 


ference  with  normal  home  life.  From  an  economic  point  of  view, 
moreover,  the  investigations  showed  that  night  work  was  unprofit- 
able, being  inferior  to  day  work  both  in  quality  and  in  quantity. 
Wherever  it  has  been  abolished,  in  the  long  run  the  efficiency  both 
of  the  management  and  of  the  workers  was  raised.  Furthermore, 
it  was  found  that  night  work  laws  are  a  valuable  aid  in  enforcing 
acts  fixing  the  maximum  period  of  employment."  Night  work  for 
women  in  all  industries  or  in  certain  selected  industries  is  now  for- 
bidden in  nearly  all  European  countries  and  in  about  a  dozen  states 
of  this  country.  Some  forty  states  have  prohibited  night  work  for 
children  under  sixteen.  There  is  practically  no  existing  legislation 
of  this  sort  with  regard  to  adult  males. 

Nihilism.  From  the  Latin  word  nihil,  meaning  "nothing"; 
the  philosophy  or  belief  of  a  small  intellectual  extremist  section  of 
Russian  revolutionaries,  who  were  popularly  supposed  to  strive  for 
universal  destruction  of  all  existing  forms  of  society,  without  having 
any  constructive  plan  to  substitute  for  those  forms.  The  assassina- 
tion of  high  political  officials  was  for  a  time  prominent  among  their 
methods.  Nihilism,  never  a  very  clearly  defined  creed  and  having 
but  few  followers,  has  practically  disappeared  since  the  overthrow 
of  the  Czarist  regime  in  Russia. 

Nominal  Wages.     See  WAGES. 

Non -Economic  Strike.    See  POLITICAL  STRIKE. 

Non -Partisan  League.  An  association  of  farmers,  organized 
in  North  Dakota  in  1915,  which  has  spread  rapidly  throughout  the 
northwest.  Its  general  purpose  is  to  secure  the  election  of  govern- 
ment officials,  and  the  subsequent  enactment  of  legislation,  "favor- 
able to  the  establishment  and  operation  by  the  State  of  the  indus- 
tries and  facilities  necessary  to  insure  the  efficient  and  equitable 
financing  of  farm  operations  and  economic  marketing  of  farm  prod- 
ucts so  as  to  protect  the  farmers'  earnings  and  to  conserve  soil 
fertility."  Thus,  the  League  is  essentially  a  political  movement 
which  seeks  to  correct  certain  industrial  abuses  and  to  attain  definite 
economic  results.  But  its  detailed  programme  covers  a  much  wider 
field.  The  League  identifies  itself  with  no  party,  but  nominates  its 
candidates  ordinarily  by  endorsing  candidates  in  the  old  parties 
who  accept  its  principles.  While  membership  in  the  League  is  re- 
stricted to  bona  fide  farmers,  it  has  from  the  first  adopted  a  policy 
of  cooperation  with  labor  organizations.  During  the  first  six  years 
of  its  existence  the  League  has  established  itself  on  a  substantial 

[35i] 


basis  in  at  least  a  dozen  states,  notably  in  the  two  Dakotas  and 
Minnesota.      (See  WORKING  PEOPLE'S  NON-PARTISAN  LEAGUE.) 

Non -Union  Shop.  An  establishment  in  which  wages,  hours, 
and  general  conditions  of  employment  are  fixed  by  the  employer, 
instead  of  by  joint  agreement  with  a  trade  union.  If  employment 
is  refused  to  trade  unionists  as  such,  the  non-union  shop  becomes  an 
"anti-union  shop."  But  even  if  trade  unionists  are  employed  without 
discrimination,  the  establishment  is  nevertheless  non-union  as  long 
as  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  in  the  trade  union  sense  is  not  recognized 
or  practiced.  (See  OPEN  SHOP;  AMERICAN  PLAN.) 

Norfolk  Idea.  During  a  recent  strike  of  machinists  at  Nor- 
folk, Va.,  following  an  employers'  effort  to  enforce  the  OPEN  SHOP 
policy,  the  International  Association  of  Machinists  purchased  an 
overdue  mortgage  against  one  of  the  largest  Norfolk  plants.  With 
this  weapon  they  forced  the  plant  to  renew  operations  on  a  union 
basis ;  and  when  the  local  banks  withdrew  credit  from  the  "offending " 
concern,  the  Machinists  Association  itself  advanced  the  needed 
credit.  These  tactics  finally  brought  complete  victory  to  the  strikers, 
against  the  combination  of  bankers  and  employers'  association  con- 
ducting the  open  shop  "drive."  This  transference  of  strategy  from 
DIRECT  ACTION  to  the  field  of  finance  has  been  termed  the  "Norfolk 
Idea,"  and  labor  leaders  are  now  giving  it  close  consideration  as  sug- 
gesting a  new  and  favorable  approach  to  WORKERS'  CONTROL  of 
industry. 

Normal  Day  or  Normal  Week.  The  number  of  working  hours 
per  day  or  week  that  has  been  established,  through  COLLECTIVE 
BARGAINING,  by  law,  or  by  custom,  as  the  standard  for  one  industry 
or  for  all  industries  within  a  certain  geographical  area.  In  a  larger 
sense,  a  standard  number  of  working  hours  per  day  or  week  demanded 
for  all  industrial  workers,  and  determined  with  reference  to  two 
main  factors:  (i)  The  physical,  mental,  and  moral  welfare  of  the 
worker,  and  (2)  the  maintenance  of  the  STANDARD  RATE.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Webb  use  the  term  "normal  day"  in  designation  of  the  second 
class  of  trade  union  regulations  involved  in  what  they  call  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  COMMON  RULE.  "The  regulation  that  work  shall  not 
be  extended  beyond  so  many  hours  per  day,"  says  George  O  Brien, 
"is  one  which  is  peculiar  to  manual  workmen  and  even  amongst 
them  is  of  comparatively  recent  conception.  During  the  eighteenth 
century  working  hours  were  tolerated  and  accepted  which  would  now 
shock  the  conscience  of  the  public,  but  in  recent  times  the  whole 

[352] 


weight  of  the  trade  union  movement  has  been  thrown  into  the  en- 
deavor to  secure  diminution  of  the  working  hours.  Of  course,  the 
introduction  of  factory  work  and  of  LARGE-SCALE  INDUSTRY  renders 
the  adoption  of  the  normal  day  more  easy  than  it  was  when  workmen 
worked  in  their  own  homes,  and  the  very  simplicity  with  which 
the  normal  day  can  be  enforced  in  factories  where  a  large  number  of 
workmen  are  employed  makes  it  peculiarly  a  subject  for  LEGAL 
ENACTMENT,  as  it  does  not  depend  upon  the  peculiarities  either  of 
localities  or  of  individuals."  (See  SHORT  HOUR  MOVEMENT.) 

Norwegian  Labor  Party.  See  ARBEIDERNES  FAGLIGE  LANDS- 
ORGANISATION  i  NORGE. 

Norwegian  National  Trade  Union  Federation.  See  AR- 
BEIDERNES FAGLIGE  LANDSORGANISATION  i  NORGE. 

Norwegian  Works  Councils  Law.  A  provisional  WORKS 
COUNCILS  act  (Midlertidig  lov  am  arbeiderutvalg)  was  passed  in  Nor- 
way on  July  22,  1920.  The  functions  of  the  councils  are  advisory 
only,  and  no  penalty  is  laid  down  for  failure  to  comply  with  the  terms 
of  the  law.  In  every  establishment  which  employs  regularly  not 
less  than  fifty  workers,  a  works  council  is  to  be  formed,  if  demanded 
by  one-fourth  of  the  workpeople.  The  members  of  the  council 
(who  must  number  not  less  than  two  or  more  than  ten)  are  to  be 
elected  for  a  year  from  among  such  workers  in  the  establishment 
as  are  over  twenty-one  years  of  age.  The  works  council  is  to  con- 
sider and  express  opinions  upon  the  following  points:  (i)  Important 
changes  in  the  management,  so  far  as  they  affect  working  conditions; 
(2)  questions  concerning  ordinary  scales  of  pay,  PIECE  WORK  rates, 
hours  of  labor,  OVERTIME,  arrangement  of  work  during  SHORT  TIME, 
holidays,  and  other  working  conditions;  (3)  workshop  regulations 
and  additions  to  or  changes  therein;  and  (4)  questions  as  to  the  setting 
up  or  the  management  of  welfare  institutions  (sickness  and  funeral 
funds,  savings  banks,  workmen's  dwellings,  etc.).  Further,  the 
council  is  entitled  (and  if  requested  by  one  of  the  parties  is  bound) 
to  act  as  CONCILIATOR  in  disputes  in  which  any  worker  is  concerned 
if  they  relate  to  working  conditions  or  to  the  dismissal  of  workpeople. 


o 


O.  B.  U.  These  initials  are  commonly  used  in  popular  designa- 
tion of  ONE  BIG  UNION. 

Occupational  Diseases.  In  a  broad  and  general  sense,  "the 
morbid  results  of  occupational  activity  traceable  to  specific  causes 
or  labor  conditions,  and  followed  by  more  or  less  extended  incapacity 
for  work."  The  commoner  forms  of  occupational  disease  may  be 
classified  according  to  cause  and  nature  of  injury  as  follows:  (i) 
Diseases  due  to  gradual  absorption  of  poisons — e.g.,  lead  poisoning. 
(2)  Diseases  in  which  the  poison  or  germ  enters  the  system  through 
a  break  in  the  skin — e.g.,  anthrax.  (3)  Skin  affections  from  acids 
or  other  irritants — e.g.,  eczema,  dermatitis,  etc.  (4)  Diseases  due 
to  fumes  or  dust  entering  the  system  through  the  respiratory  organs 
— e.g.,  tuberculosis,  gas  poisoning,  etc.  (5)  Diseases  due  to  vibra- 
tions or  constant  use  of  particular  members — e.g.,  neuritis,  teleg- 
rapher's cramp,  housemaid's  knee,  etc.  (6)  Miscellaneous  diseases 
— e.g.,  caisson  disease,  miner's  nystagmus,  etc.  In  addition  to  all 
these,  the  term  "occupational  diseases"  is  often  applied  to  many 
non-industrial  ailments  or  disorders  to  which  the  public  at  large  is 
subject,  but  which  may  nevertheless  be  caused  or  aggravated  by 
specific  conditions  of  labor.  Nearly  all  civilized  countries  have 
enacted  legislation  designed  to  limit  or  prevent  the  more  serious 
occupational  diseases.  In  some  cases  the  use  of  certain  poisonous 
materials,  as  for  example,  white  lead  and  yellow  phosphorus,  is  pro- 
hibited altogether.  In  other  cases  children,  women,  or  some  classes 
of  men  are  prohibited  from  handling  certain  dangerous  materials  or 
working  under  hazardous  health  conditions.  The  immediate  report- 
ing of  all  cases  of  occupational  disease  is  required  under  the  laws  of 
seventeen  states  in  this  country.  (See  HEALTH  HAZARDS;  INDUS- 
TRIAL MEDICINE;  INDUSTRIAL  HEALTH  WORK;  INDUSTRIAL  PHYSI- 
OLOGY; SAFETY  FIRST  MOVEMENT.) 

Occupational  Union.     See  CRAFT  UNION. 

[354] 


Odborove  Sdruzeni  Ceskoslovenske  (Federation  of  Czecho- 
slovak Trade  Unions).  The  leading  labor  organization  of  Czecho- 
slovakia, formed  as  a  separate  entity  in  1897,  upon  the  refusal  of 
the  Austrian  GEWERKSCHAFTSKOMMISSION  to  grant  autonomy  to  the 
Czech  unions  under  its  jurisdiction.  In  1913  the  Federation  had  a 
membership  of  104,574.  Owing  to  war  conditions  this  total  had 
dropped  to  23,932  in  1916.  Since  the  proclamation  of  the  Republic, 
however,  the  Federation  has  made  tremendous  headway.  In  1920 
the  membership  was  stated  to  be  727,055,  women  members  forming 
28  per  cent  of  this  total. 

Old  Age  Certificate.     See  EXEMPT  CARDS. 

Old  Age  Insurance.  A  form  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  which 
provides  periodic  payments  to  workers  who  are  wholly  or  partially 
incapacitated  for  wage-earning  by  reason  of  old  age.  Such  payments 
are  often  termed  "superannuation  benefits."  Compulsory  old  age 
insurance,  in  combination  with  invalidity  insurance,  has  been  estab- 
lished in  eleven  European  countries,  and  in  the  United  States  for  all 
Federal  government  employees  in  the  classified  civil  service.  Other 
countries  have  voluntary  systems  of  old  age  insurance,  carried  on 
mainly  by  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES,  assisted  or  unassisted  by  the  State. 
"Straight"  old  age  pensions,  that  is  to  say,  annual  payments  granted 
outright  by  the  government  on  a  non-contributory  basis,  are  provided 
in  several  countries.  ESTABLISHMENT  FUNDS  in  the  United  States 
usually  make  provision  for  old  age  pensions,  or  "retirement  allow- 
ances" as  they  are  often  called,  and  some  of  the  larger  national 
or  international  unions  maintain  special  pension  funds  for  this  pur- 
pose. Superannuation  benefits  are  paid  by  many  of  the  large  British 
trade  unions.  (See  BENEFITS;  MASSACHUSETTS  SAVINGS  BANK 
INSURANCE  AND  PENSION  SYSTEM;  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  IN  RUSSIA; 
OLD  AGE  PENSION  ACTS.) 

Old  Age  Pension  Acts.  British  Parliamentary  enactments  of 
1908  and  1911,  which  provide  for  State  pensions  payable  to  every 
man  and  woman  over  the  age  of  seventy  whose  income  does  not 
exceed  £31,  10  shillings  a  year,  and  who  has  been  for  the  last  twenty 
years  before  receiving  the  pension  a  British  subject  and  for  twelve 
of  those  years  (allowance  being  made  for  Crown  service  abroad  and 
certain  other  instances)  a  resident  in  the  United  Kingdom.  About 
one  million  persons  in  Great  Britain  now  receive  pensions  under 
these  Acts. 

Old  Age  Pensions.    See  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE. 

[355] 


Old  Unionism.  In  general,  unionism  of  the  conservative  type, 
laying  stress  on  insurance,  craft  autonomy,  POLITICAL  ACTION,  etc., 
rather  than  on  INDUSTRIAL  ACTION;  and  largely  or  wholly  ignoring 
the  unskilled  worker.  (See  NEW  UNIONISM;  BUSINESS  UNIONISM; 
UPLIFT  UNIONISM;  COFFIN  SOCIETY.) 

Omnibus  Injunction.    See  BLANKET  INJUNCTION. 

On -and -Off  System.  In  general,  the  method  of  employing 
workers  at  irregular  intervals  and  for  uncertain  periods,  instead  of 
for  a  definite  number  of  hours  each  day  or  week.  The  "on-and-off 
system"  is  chiefly  found  in  those  industries  which  habitually  utilize 
extra  or  relief  workers,  according  to  the  varying  pressure  of  work. 
Thus,  in  telegraphy,  an  extra  or  relief  operator  might  be  given  two 
hours'  work  in  the  early  morning,  another  hour  at  noon,  and  two  or 
three  additional  hours  in  the  early  evening.  As  he  would  not  know 
when  he  might  be  called  on,  he  would  have  to  be  continuously  on 
hand  from  early  morning  until  late  evening,  although  idle  most  of 
the  time.  (See  GRASS  WORK;  BYE-TURNMAN.) 

One  Big  Union.  This  term,  like  many  others  in  the  labor  move- 
ment, is  so  loosely  and  variously  used  that  any  exact  definition  is 
difficult.  To  certain  timid  souls,  any  departure  from  strict  CRAFT 
UNIONISM,  any  labor  organization  that  follows  the  general  structure 
and  lines  of  an  entire  industry,  is  "One  Big  Union."  On  the  other 
hand,  the  term  is  often  applied  to  any  radical  labor  body,  however 
relatively  limited  in  membership  and  influence — such  as  the  INDUS- 
TRIAL WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD,  or  the  South  Wales  Miners'  Feder- 
ation, or  the  WORKERS'  INDUSTRIAL  UNION  OF  AUSTRALIA.  Then 
there  are  certain  labor  organizations,  notably  the  one  formed  among 
the  workers  of  Western  Canada  in  1919,  which  have  definitely 
adopted  the  title  of  "One  Big  Union."  But,  in  the  broadest  sense, 
the  term  denotes  an  ideal  or  purpose,  rather  than  any  present 
actuality — an  ideal  and  purpose  that  have  long  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  on  the  working  classes  of  every  country.  In  the  broadest 
sense,  the  goal  in  view  is  a  single  world-wide  organization  of  labor, 
coherent  and  coordinate  and  all-embracing,  recognizing  no  distinc- 
tions of  nationality,  color,  sex,  or  occupation,  and  representative  of 
the  united  economic  force  and  social  will  of  the  working  classes  of 
the  world.  A  necessary  step  toward  the  realization  of  the  interna- 
tional "One  Big  Union"  is  the  formation  of  a  nationally  inclusive 
organization  in  every  country.  In  this  national  sense,  the  "One 
Big  Union"  movement  has  perhaps  made  the  greatest  progress  in 

1356] 


Ireland,  where  the  stress  of  the  revolutionary  republican  struggle 
has  united  the  working  classes  in  a  remarkably  homogeneous  body. 
(See  CLASS  UNIONISM;  GRAND  NATIONAL;  IRISH  LABOR  PARTY  AND 
TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS;  IRISH  TRANSPORT  AND  GENERAL  WORK- 
ERS' UNION;  AUSTRALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

One -Break  Day.  A  working  day  that  is  "broken  "  only  by  the 
interval  allowed  for  the  mid-day  meal.  The  "one-break  day"  is  a 
rarity  in  British  industry,  as  usually  several  "breaks"  or  pauses 
are  allowed  for  various  purposes. 

One  Day's  Rest  in  Seven.  The  insistence  upon  one  day  of 
rest  for  the  worker  each  week  has  long  been  an  important  item  in 
the  programme  of  trade  unionism.  But  it  is  recognized  that  the  rest- 
day  for  all  workers  cannot  be  Sunday,  because  certain  kinds  of 
industries  require  continuous  operation.  Not  the  seven-day  week 
but  the  seven-day  worker  is  the  objectionable  feature.  In  nearly  all 
.European  countries  and  in  some  half  dozen  states  in  this  country, 
so  called  "rest-day  laws"  have  been  passed  which  recognize  in  some 
degree  at  least  the  principle  of  "one  day's  rest  in  seven."  These  laws 
generally  name  Sunday  as  the  day  of  rest,  but  permit  the  operation 
of  CONTINUOUS  INDUSTRIES  on  that  day  provided  the  worker  is  given 
some  other  free  day  during  the  week.  Another  class  of  laws,  originat- 
ing primarily  from  religious  motives,  attempts  to  enforce  Sunday  as 
a  day  of  rest;  but  such  laws  have  for  the  most  part  proved  ineffectual. 
Yet  notwithstanding  trade  union  pressure,  legislative  enactments, 
religious  scruples,  and  the  force  of  enlightened  public  opinion,  large 
numbers  of  workers  are  still  required  to  labor  seven  days  a  week — 
sometimes,  as  in  the  American  steel  industry,  for  twelve  hours  a  day. 

One -Man  Shop.  The  form  of  small  business — particularly 
common  in  the  plumber,  barber,  tailor,  job  printer,  blacksmith, 
painter,  and  carpenter  trades — which  is  run  by  a  single  man  or 
a  partnership,  with  no  other  workers  than  possibly  an  AP- 
PRENTICE or  HELPER.  The  problem  of  the  one-man  shop  is  an  im- 
portant one  to  trade  unions.  The  competition  of  such  a  shop,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Weyforth,  "is  unregulated;  its  proprietor  is  left  free  to 
work  at  prices  that  are  out  of  the  question  for  an  employer  compelled 
to  pay  the  regular  union  rate  of  wages,  and  to  prolong  his  hours  of 
labor  to  a  time  far  beyond  the  limits  fixed  by  the  regulation  of  the 
union.  In  fact,  the  intensity  of  competition  for  business  insures  the 
working  out  of  this  result.  .  .  .  The  result  of  the  presence  of  these 
small  shops  is  the  undermining  of  the  strength  of  the  union,  since  the 
24  [357] 


large  employer  of  labor  is  compelled  to  meet  the  competition  of  such 
shops,  and,  in  doing  so,  feels  himself  handicapped  by  regulations  in 
regard  to  wages  and  hours  that  do  not  apply  to  the  small  competi- 
tor." In  some  trades  the  one-man  shop  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  a 
"bedroom  shop." 

One -Man  Strike.  A  strike  called  to  force  the  reinstatement 
of  a  single  discharged  employee.  Such  strikes  are  of  fairly  frequent 
occurrence,  and  sometimes  involve  thousands  of  workers — as  in  the 
case  of  the  famous  "Knox  strike"  of  British  railway  workers  in  1912. 
In  such  a  strike  it  is  of  course  a  principle  that  the  workers  are  con- 
tending for — the  principle  that  the  employers'  "right  to  discharge" 
shall  not  be  arbitrarily  or  unjustly  exercised.  (See  VICTIMIZATION.) 

One -Man  Town.     See  COMPANY  TOWN. 

Open-Door  Principle.  This  phrase  has  its  origin  in  the 
statement  frequently  made  by  employers:  "My  office  door  is  always 
open  to  any  employee  who  wishes  to  lay  a  grievance  before  me." 
Advocates  of  the  "open-door  principle"  often  assume  that  nothing 
further  is  needed  to  secure  just  and  satisfactory  industrial  relations. 

Open -Mouth  Strike.  A  workers'  term,  applied  to  the  plan 
sometimes  adopted  by  dissatisfied  waiters,  retail  clerks,  etc.,  of 
telling  customers  the  exact  truth  about  adulterated  or  inferior 
articles  which  their  employer  offers  for  sale.  Or,  in  connection  with 
factory  workers,  it  may  consist  in  letting  the  public  know  about 
shoddy  or  dishonest  methods  followed  in  the  manufacture  of  certain 
articles.  This  practice  is,  properly  speaking,  a  mild  form  of  SABOTAGE, 
the  immediate  purpose  being  to  injure  the  employer.  In  France  it 
is  called  la  bouche  ouverte — "the  open  mouth." 

Open  Shop.  Originally,  an  open  shop  was  one  where  trade 
union  members  were  permitted  by  the  union  to  seek  employment. 
To  declare  a  shop  "open"  was  equivalent  to  calling  off  a  strike  or 
boycott.  Now,  however,  the  term  has  a  very  different  connotation. 
In  present-day  practice  there  are  three  main  forms  of  open  shop. 
First,  there  is  the  shop  which,  under  JOINT  AGREEMENT,  is  open 
alike  to  unionists  and  non-unionists,  where  both  classes  of  workers 
are  employed  under  the  same  wage  scale  and  the  same  working  con- 
ditions, without  DISCRIMINATION  on  the  part  of  either  employer  or 
trade  union.  Open  shops  of  this  type  have  long  been  common  in 
certain  national  industries  (as  for  example,  the  railways)  where  con- 
trol on  both  sides  is  strongly  centralized.  They  are  in  no  way  in- 
compatible with  the  methods  and  aims  of  trade  unionism,  or  with 

[358] 


the  legitimate  independence  of  employers.  But  they  depend  upon 
three  definite  factors:  (i)  A  strong  and  well-disposed  association 
on  each  side;  (2)  the  fixing  of  wage-scales  and  working  conditions 
by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  and  joint  agreement;  and  (3)  the  refer- 
ence of  unsettled  grievances  and  complaints  on  either  side  to  a 
joint  board  of  union  officials  and  the  employers'  association  repre- 
sentatives. Where  these  factors  prevail,  the  issue  of  open  shop 
versus  CLOSED  SHOP  becomes  largely  an  academic  one.  The  second 
form  of  open  shop  is  commonly  and  more  properly  known  as  the 
"non-union  shop" — that  in  which  wages,  hours,  and  working  con- 
ditions are  fixed  by  the  employer  instead  of  by  joint  agreement  with 
a  trade  union,  although  no  discrimination  is  shown  against  individual 
unionists  in  the  matter  of  employment.  The  third  form  is  the  shop 
which  is  "open"  to  non-unionists,  but  is  "closed"  by  the  employer 
to  trade  unionists  as  such,  although  some  form  of  COMPANY  UNION 
may  be  permitted  or  encouraged.  This  is  the  "anti-union  shop," 
or  what  unionists  often  call  the  "employers'  closed  shop"  or  "closed 
non-union  shop."  It  is  around  the  two  last-described  forms  of  open 
shop — those  in  which  collective  bargaining  is  denied  by  the  employer 
— that  the  present  "open  shop  controversy"  is  centred.  The  vital 
point  in  this  controversy,  as  every  employer  and  trade  unionist 
knows,  is  the  matter  of  collective  bargaining.  Discrimination 
or  non-discrimination  in  the  employment  of  individual  unionists  is 
of  comparatively  small  importance.  Trade  unionism  is  effective 
solely  by  virtue  of  the  principle  of  collective  bargaining  and  collective 
action.  As  far  as  the  "open  shop  campaign"  aims  to  nullify  or 
destroy  that  principle,  it  aims  at  the  nullification  or  destruction  of 
trade  unionism  itself.  Carefully  concealed  as  this  fact  is  in  most 
public  discussions  of  the  subject,  it  is  nevertheless  the  heart  and  sub- 
stance of  the  whole  matter.  (See  AMERICAN  PLAN;  UNION  SHOP; 
PREFERENTIAL  SHOP;  MIXED  SHOP;  LOCKWOOD  COMMITTEE. 

Open  Trades.  Those  trades  or  occupations  in  which  the 
trade  unions  concerned  in  no  way  restrict  APPRENTICESHIP  or  the 
learning  of  their  members'  occupations  by  newcomers. 

Open  Union.  A  trade  union  in  which  membership  is  open  to 
all  workers  in  the  same  craft  or  occupation  and  locality,  under 
uniform  conditions  which  necessarily  exclude  no  competent  and 
honest  member  of  the  trade.  This  is  by  far  the  prevailing  type  in 
all  countries.  Opposed  to  this  type  is  the  so-called  CLOSED  UNION, 
which  endeavors  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  employment  in  its 
field  for  a  comparatively  small  number  of  workers. 

[359] 


Operative,  (i)  Any  industrial  worker,  particularly  one  em- 
ployed in  a  mill  or  factory,  is  commonly  so  called  in  England.  The 
term  is  also  used  in  the  same  sense  in  the  United  States,  although 
much  less  generally.  (2)  A  private  detective,  or  UNDER-COVER  MAN. 

Operator.  In  American  coal-mining,  the  person,  firm,  or  cor- 
poration in  direct  control  of  the  working  and  management  of  a  mine, 
whether  as  owner  or  lessee,  is  known  as  the  "operator."  As  the  anthra- 
cite coal-mines  are  largely  owned  or  controlled  by  railroad  companies, 
the  term  "independent  operator"  is  often  applied  to  an  operator 
other  than  a  railroad  corporation. 

Opportunist,  Opportunism.  In  the  field  of  SOCIALISM  or 
labor,  an  "opportunist"  is  one  who  believes  in  advancing  his  cause 
by  taking  advantage  of  opportunities  and  circumstances  as  they 
arise,  without  much  regard  to  fixed  principles,  consistent  practice, 
or  ultimate  objectives.  Opportunism  is  the  policy  of  moderate,  as 
opposed  to  extremist,  socialist  and  labor  leaders.  (See  IMPOSSIBILIST.) 

Order  System.     See  TRUCK  SYSTEM. 

Organization  by  Function.    See  FUNCTIONAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Organized  Scabbery.    See  UNION  SCAB. 

Organized  Short  Time.    See  SHORT  TIME. 

Organizer.  A  trade  union  official  whose  function  it  is  to  pro- 
mote the  UNIONIZATION  of  unorganized  workers,  and  to  carry  on 
general  propaganda  work  in  behalf  of  trade  unionism.  In  the  case 
of  a  newly  formed  national  union  this  function  is  often  assigned  to 
one  of  the  national  executive  officers;  but  as  the  union  grows  in  size 
and  strength  the  work  is  usually  delegated  to  one  or  several  per- 
manent travelling  officials,  who  often  act  as  STRIKE  DEPUTIES  and 
perform  other  field  duties  as  well.  The  AMERICAN  FEDERATION 
OF  LABOR  employs  a  considerable  number  of  salaried  organizers, 
besides  many  volunteer  workers  who  are  usually  paid  on  a  commission 
basis.  The  work  of  these  organizers  consists  in  the  formation  and 
building  up  of  local  unions  in  trades  or  industries  in  which  no  na- 
tional union  exists,  in  assisting  the  national  unions  in  the  organizing 
of  their  trades  or  industries  whenever  possible,  and  in  the  settlement 
of  disputes,  the  supervision  of  strikes,  and  other  work  of  mainte- 
nance and  conservation — both  for  the  local  unions  directly  affiliated 
with  the  Federation  and  for  other  unions  whenever  called  upon.  (See 
DEPUTY  SYSTEM;  BUSINESS  AGENT.) 

[360] 


Organizing  District  Delegates.  See  BRITISH  TRADE  UNION 
ORGANIZATION. 

Osborne  Judgment.  A  notable  decision  rendered  in  Decem- 
ber, 1909,  by  the  British  House  of  Lords,  acting  in  its  judicial 
capacity  as  the  highest  Court  of  Appeals.  Formally,  this  judgment 
decided  only  that  W.  V.  Osborne,  a  member  of  the  Amalgamated 
Society  of  Railway  Servants,  was  entitled  to  restrain  that  trade 
union  from  making  a  levy  on  its  members  and  from  using  any  of 
its  funds  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY, 
or  maintaining  members  of  Parliament.  In  effect,  however,  it  crippled 
all  British  trade  unions  by  virtual  prohibition  of  political  and  edu- 
cational work  on  their  part,  and  association  for  common  purposes 
in  other  labor  bodies.  While  partly  modified  by  the  TRADE  UNION 
ACT  OF  1913,  the  Osborne  judgment  has  not  yet  been  completely 
overruled.  (See  TRADE  UNION  ACT  OF  1871.) 

Out -of -Work  Benefits.  Payments  made  by  a  trade  union  or 
by  the  public  authorities  to  workers  who  are  temporarily  unemployed. 
In  England,  this  is  the  most  important  of  all  trade  union  BENEFITS. 
Aside  from  its  protection  of  the  individual  from  destitution  while  he 
is  finding  a  new  position,  from  the  trade  union  point  of  view  it  also 
protects  the  STANDARD  RATE  and  other  normal  conditions  of  employ- 
ment from  being  broken  down  by  the  competition  of  union  members 
driven  by  necessity  to  accept  the  employers'  terms.  In  England,  the 
out-of-work  benefit  is  sometimes  called  "idle  money,"  or  more  com- 
monly the  "donation."  (See  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE;  TRAVEL- 
LING BENEFITS;  VICTIM  PAY;  REGISTRY  SYSTEM.) 

Outlaw  Strike.     See  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE. 

Outlaws.  A  term  applied  in  labor  circles  to  individuals, 
groups,  or  shops  that  have  broken  away  from  their  "regular"  trade 
union  jurisdiction.  An  outlaw  shop  is  one  that  refuses  to  accept  the 
collective  agreement  between  the  workers  and  the  employers  in  an 
industry.  An  outlaw  LOCAL  is  one  that  has  seceded  from  its  national 
or  international  union,  or  that  has  been  expelled.  (See  VACATION- 
ISTS; SECESSIONISTS;  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE;  RUMP  UNION.) 

Output  Committee.    See  TIMEKEEPING  COMMITTEE. 
Outside  Shop.    See  INSIDE  SHOP. 

Outside  Union.  A  term  frequently  used  by  employers  in 
designation  of  any  local  or  national  labor  organization  in  the  regular 
trade  union  sense.  The  employer  who  uses  this  term  obviously  im- 

[361] 


plies  that  his  own  workers  are  organized  in  an  "inside"  or  COMPANY 
UNION,  but  this  is  by  no  means  always  the  case. 

Outwork.  Any  arrangement  under  which  industrial  operations 
are  carried  on  elsewhere  than  in  a  factory  or  workshop  provided  and 
controlled  by  the  employer  of  the  workers.  "Outwork"  and  HOME 
WORK  are  in  the  main  synonymous  terms,  although  outwork  is  not 
invariably  home  work.  For  instance,  a  group  of  garment  finishers, 
working  for  a  contractor  or  sub-contractor,  may  collectively  hire 
one  or  more  rooms  outside  their  own  homes,  which  they  use  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  a  common  workshop.  Their  work  is  thus  outwork, 
but  not  home  work.  (See  OUTWORKER.) 

Outworker.  In  the  commonly  accepted  definition,  "a  person 
to  whom  articles  or  materials  are  given  out  to  be  made  up,  cleaned, 
washed,  altered,  ornamented,  finished,  repaired,  or  adapted  for  sale 
in  his  own  home  or  on  other  premises  not  under  the  control  or  man- 
agement of  the  person  who  gave  out  the  articles  or  materials."  (See 
OUTWORK.) 

Over -All  Time  Study.  The  process  of  determining,  usually 
with  an  ordinary  watch,  the  amount  of  time  required  in  a  complete 
industrial  operation,  the  result  being  sometimes  made  the  basis  of 
a  piece-rate  wage.  This  should  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the 

TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY  of  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  which  Consists 

in  "the  analysis  of  operations  into  their  elementary  units,  the  deter- 
mination of  the  best  methods  and  time  for  the  performance  of  each 
of  these  units,  and  their  summation  into  a  total  time  for  the  entire 
job."  (See  EMERSON  SYSTEM.) 

Over -Driving.     See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Over -Production.  In  a  correct  economic  sense,  this  term 
does  not  necessarily  imply  that  more  has  been  produced  of  an  article 
than  can  be  consumed  or  used,  or  even  sold.  It  means,  according  to 
Clay,  that  "more  of  the  article  has  been  produced  than  can  be  sold 
at  a  price  big  enough  to  repay  its  makers  the  cost  of  production,  plus 
sufficient  profit  to  induce  them  to  go  on  producing  at  the  same  rate." 
Upon  this  point  is  based  one  of  the  arguments  commonly  urged  in 
defense  of  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT  as  a  workers'  policy.  "It  is  because 
more  goods  are  made  than  can  be  bought  by  people  who  want  to  buy 
them,  it  is  argued,  that  the  mills  have  to  stop  working,  and  wide- 
spread industrial  depression  occurs.  So  far  as  restriction  of  individual 
output  would  increase  the  aggregate  share  of  the  wage-earners  in 
the  social  product,  it  would  modify  the  tendency  to  industrial  de- 

[362] 


pression,  by  increasing  consumption;  for  almost  all  which  the  wage- 
earners  are  able  to  get  is  immediately  consumed.  But,  beyond  that, 
overproduction  would  be  directly  diminished  by  so  much  as  each 
individual  worker  should  diminish  his  own  product."  (See  UNDER- 
CONSUMPTION THEORY.) 

Overlap.  As  described  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  "an  'overlap' 
between  two  trades,  leading  to  a  dispute  as  to  which  section  of  work- 
men has  a  'right'  to  the  job,  may  occur  in  more  than  one  way.  A 
new  process  may  be  invented  which  lies  outside  the  former  work  of 
any  one  trade,  but  is  nearly  akin  to  two  or  more  of  them.  In  such  a 
case,  each  trade  will  vehemently  claim  that  the  new  process  'belongs' 
to  its  own  members,  either  because  the  same  material  is  manipulated, 
the  same  tools  are  used,  or  the  same  object  is  effected.  But  even 
without  a  new  invention  the  same  conflict  of  rights  may  arise.  The 
lines  of  division  between  allied  trades  have  hitherto  often  differed 
from  town  to  town,  and  the  migration  of  employers  or  workmen, 
or  even  the  mere  imitation  of  the  custom  of  one  town  by  the  estab- 
lishments of  another,  will  lead  to  serious  friction.  A  new  firm  may 
introduce  fresh  ways  of  dividing  its  work,  or  an  old  establishment 
may  undertake  a  new  branch  of  trade.  There  may  even  be  an  un- 
provoked and  naked  aggression,  by  a  strongly  organized  class  of  work- 
men, upon  the  jobs 'hitherto  undertaken  by  a  humbler  section."  Dis- 
putes concerning  "overlap"  (generally  called  "demarcation  dis- 
putes" in  England  and  " jurisdictional  disputes"  in  America),  while 
always  frequent  and  often  serious  in  the  trade  union  world,  occa- 
sionally develop  into  industrial  wars  of  the  first  magnitude.  The 
terms  "encroachment"  and  "trespass"  are  sometimes  used  in  a  sense 
generally  synonymous  with  "overlap."  (See  JURISDICTION;  DEMAR- 
CATION; RIGHT  TO  THE  TRADE;  VESTED  INTERESTS  DOCTRINE.) 

Overman.  In  British  coal-mining  operations,  a  petty  official 
having  charge  of  some  section  of  the  work  below  ground. 

Overstrain.     See  FATIGUE. 

Overtime.  Time  worked  beyond  the  number  of  hours  estab- 
lished by  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  by  custom,  or  by  law  as  comprising 
the  NORMAL  DAY  OR  WEEK  in  a  particular  industry,  occupation, 
or  industrial  plant,  or  time  worked  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  is  so 
called.  The  increased  rate  of  pay  commonly  demanded  by  organized 
employees  for  such  extra  working  time  is  often  known  as  "punitive 
overtime,"  the  trade  union  theory  being  that  it  is  usually  unneces- 
sary and  always  undesirable  to  have  overtime,  and  that  the  increased 
rate  of  payment  is  a  penalty  against  the  employer  and  intended  to 

[363] 


act  as  a  deterrent.  "The  position  of  the  labor  leaders  logically 
requires  that  all  work  outside  of  regular  hours  be  abolished.  This  is 
in  fact  the  desire  of  all  the  more  progressive  union  men,  and  the 
desire  which  is  almost  universally  expressed  in  the  collective 
action  of  the  organizations.  When  overtime  becomes  systematic,  it 
is  said,  it  does  not  give  any  actual  increase  of  wages;  the  nominal 
regular  wages  are  certain  to  be  cut  down  so  that  the  workman's 
earnings  will  be  no  greater  than  they  would  be  if  the  normal  day 
were  not  exceeded.  Even  temporary  overtime  is  regarded  as  injurious 
to  the  interests  of  the  workers  as  a  whole.  There  is  a  tendency  to 
increase  the  hours  of  labor  when  times  are  bad,  and  so  to  spread  the 
interest  on  the  cost  of  the  plant  over  more  hours  of  work.  The  result 
is  that  when  social  conditions  cause  less  work  than  usual,  of  a  certain 
kind,  to  be  demanded,  some  men  do  more  than  usual  of  it.  When 
there  would  be  at  the  best  an  increase  of  UNEMPLOYMENT,  unemploy- 
ment is  made  greater  yet  by  the  overwork  of  those  who  are  employed. 
Only  a  few  unions  have,  however,  felt  themselves  strong  enough  to 
forbid  overtime  absolutely."  From  the  employer's  point  of  view, 
"the  fact  of  overtime  tends  to  lessen  the  working  pace  in  the  normal 
hours;  it  increases  FATIGUE  and  thus  tends  to  emphasize  all  the  con- 
sequences of  fatigue — irregular  attendance,  sickness,  physical  de- 
bility. It  tends,  when  long  pursued,  to  increase  LABOR  TURNOVER 
and  to  stimulate  unrest."  (See  COMPENSATORY  TIME;  STRAIGHT 
TIME;  TIME  AND  A  HALF.) 

Overwork.  While  difficult  to  define  in  a  precise  sense,  this 
term  commonly  denotes  any  excessive  demand  upon  the  normal 
physical  capacity  of  an  individual  worker.  This  demand  may  be 
inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  task,  without  regard  to  time;  but  it 
is  much  more  often  connected  with  the  length  of  the  working  day  or 
week.  In  any  continuous  task  a  point  must  necessarily  be  reached 
where  the  relative  output  per  hour  of  an  individual  worker  begins  to 
decrease  rapidly.  Other  things  being  equal,  this  decrease  indicates  a 
condition  of  FATIGUE,  and  fatigue  is  simply  the  evidence  of  overwork. 
Even  though  production  be  fairly  uniform  throughout  theworking  day 
and  week,  a  point  is  reached  during  a  term  of  years  when  the  relative 
output  takes  a  downward  curve.  In  other  words,  the  worker  has 
reached  an  age-point  when  his  physique  is  not  equal  to  the  demands 
of  his  task — he  has  begun  to  be  overworked.  The  implications  of 
overwork  are  of  large  importance  in  connection  not  merely  with  in- 
dustrial production,  but  with  good  citizenship,  family  and  home 
relationships,  and  social  progress  in  general. 

[364! 


P.  O.  B.    See  PARTI  OUVRIER  BELGE. 
Pacer  or  Pace -Maker.     See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Padrone  System.  In  the  early  days  of  Italian  IMMIGRATION, 
the  padrone  ("patron,"  "protector,"  "master")  was  an  importer 
of  CONTRACT  LABOR.  He  engaged  with  the  American  manufacturer 
or  contractor  to  supply  cheap  labor — mainly  for  construction  work; 
and  then  in  order  to  secure  this  labor  himself  went  to  Italy,  made 
individual  contracts  with  Italian  laborers  at  a  low  rate,  brought 
the  laborers  to  this  country,  and  sold  their  labor  for  several  times 
its  cost  to  him.  This  form  of  the  padrone  system  has,  however, 
entirely  disappeared.  The  padrone  system  at  present  is  strictly 
a  system  of  "bossism,"  and  the  so-called  padrone  is  known  by  the 
Italians  themselves  not  as  padrone  but  as  "the  boss."  His  business 
is  to  collect  a  gang  of  newly  arrived  laborers,  to  find  work  for  them, 
and  to  continue  with  them  at  their  place  of  work;  but  he  is  not  their 
foreman  and  not  their  contractor.  He  acts,  perhaps,  as  interpreter, 
but  mainly  as  the  proprietor  of  the  shanty  or  boarding  house  in 
which  they  crowd  together  for  the  time  being.  His  profit  is  partly 
in  the  commission  which  he  receives  from  the  employer,  but  mainly 
in  the  prices  which  he  charges  for  food  and  lodging. 

Pan -American  Federation  of  Labor.  Organized  November, 
1918,  and  composed  of  the  labor  movements  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  United  States  of  Mexico,  the  States  of  Central  and  South 
America,  and  Canada.  The  objects  of  the  Pan-American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  are  declared  to  be:  "(i)  The  establishment  of  better 
conditions  for  the  working  people  who  emigrate  from  one  country 
to  another.  (2)  The  establishment  of  a  better  understanding  and 
relationship  between  the  peoples  of  the  Pan-American  Republics. 
(3)  To  utilize  every  lawful  and  honorable  means  for  the  protection 
and  promotion  of  the  rights,  the  interests,  and  the  welfare  of  the 
peoples  of  the  Pan-American  Republics.  (4)  To  utilize  every  lawful 
and  honorable  means  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  the  most  favor- 

[365] 


able  and  friendly  relations  between  the  labor  movements  and  peoples 
of  the  Pan-American  Republics."  The  Federation  maintains  head- 
quarters in  Washington,  and  holds  an  annual  congress. 

Parasitic  Industries.  Those  which  depend  for  their  labor 
supply  upon  "casuals,"  HOME  WORKERS,  and  other  unorganized 
laborers,  particularly  women  and  children,  under  wages  and 
conditions  far  below  the  ordinary  industrial  standards.  The  em- 
ployer in  such  an  industry  is  clearly  receiving  a  subsidy  or  bounty 
which  gives  his  process  an  economic  advantage  over  those  worked  by 
fully  paid  labor.  The  subsidy  comes  in  part  from  society  as  a  whole 
in  the  form  of  drafts  upon  its  physical  human  resources,  and  in  part 
from  individuals — parents,  husbands,  etc. — who  must  make  up  the 
difference  between  the  worker's  wages  and  the  amount  necessary 
for  his  subsistence.  (See  SWEATING  SYSTEM  ;  SWEAT  SHOP  ;  SWEATER  ; 
LITTLE  MASTER;  HOME  WORK;  UNDER-EMPLOYMENT.) 

Paris  Internationale.     See  INTERNATIONALE. 
Parliament  of  Labor.     See  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS. 

Parliamentarism.  With  particular  reference  to  the  labor 
movement,  the  theory  or  method  of  improving  working-class  con- 
ditions by  the  election  of  working-class  representatives  to  national 
legislative  bodies.  Although  the  two  terms  are  often  used  inter- 
changeably, parliamentarism  is  more  properly  only  one  form  of 

POLITICAL  ACTION. 

Parliamentary  Committee,  Trades  Union  Congress.  See 
TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS. 

Parliamentary  Labor  Party.  Those  members  of  the  British 
Parliament,  at  present  some  sixty  in  number,  who  were  elected  or 
"returned"  by  labor  constituencies,  are  collectively  so  called.  The 
Parliamentary  Labor  Party  is  virtually  the  Parliamentary  represen- 
tation of  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY. 

Parlor  Bolshevism.  A  term  of  derision  often  applied  to  the 
discussion  and  support  of  radical  social  theories  on  the  part  of  those 
who  belong  to  the  intellectual  or  propertied  classes,  rather  than  to 
the  working  people.  "Parlor  socialism"  is  also  used  in  a  similar 
sense.  (See  BOLSHEVISM.) 

Part  Time.  As  distinguished  from  FULL  TIME,  this  is  less  than 
the  number  of  working  hours  which  has  been  established  as  consti- 
tuting the  NORMAL  DAY  OR  WEEK  in  a  particular  plant  or  industry. 

[366] 


Part -Time  Schools.  Special  schools  or  classes  for  children 
and  others  who  are  industrially  employed.  The  instruction  may  be 
wholly  of  an  academic  character,  wholly  of  a  vocational  character, 
or  a  combination  of  both.  The  part-time  school  devoted  wholly  or 
mainly  to  general  academic  instruction  is  commonly  known  as  a 
CONTINUATION  SCHOOL.  Part-time  schools  which  place  main  em- 
phasis upon  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  are  of  two  general  types:  (i) 
Those  giving  instruction  in  the  particular  trade  or  industry  in  which 
the  pupils  are  employed — known  as  "trade  extension  schools"; 
and  (2)  those  giving  instruction  to  persons  who  wish  to  fit  them- 
selves for  a  particular  trade  or  industry  other  than  the  one  in  which 
they  are  employed — known  as  "trade  preparatory  schools."  The 
part-time  school  of  whatever  type  may  be  a  part  of  the  general 
educational  system,  or  it  may  be  provided  by  an  individual  employer 
for  the  sole  benefit  of  his  own  employees.  Where  it  is  a  part  of  the 
public  educational  facilities,  attendance  is  compulsory  in  some  coun- 
tries and  in  several  states  in  this  country,  for  a  minimum  number  of 
hours,  for  children  below  a  specified  age  limit;  and  such  hours  are 
usually  counted  as  part  of  the  time  during  which  such  children  are 
legally  permitted  to  work.  While  the  terms  "part-time  school"  and 
"continuation  school"  are  often  used  indiscriminately  or  inter- 
changeably, properly  speaking  the  continuation  school  is  merely  one 
specific  form  of  the  part-time  school.  (See  FORTBILDUNGSSCHULE.) 

Parteischule.     See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION. 

Parti  Ouvrier  Beige  (Belgian  Labor  Party).  Because  of  the 
close-knit  alliance  between  trade  unionists,  socialists,  and  coopera- 
tives which  it  represents,  the  Belgian  Labor  Party  (founded  in  1885) 
is  one  of  the  most  effective  working-class  organizations  in  Europe. 
In  this  organization,  it  has  been  remarked,  "SOCIALISM  supplies  the 
brain  that  directs,  TRADE  UNIONISM  the  weapons  for  the  fight,  and 
COOPERATION  the  sinews  of  war."  The  Labor  Party  is  a  national 
federation  with  thirty-two  district  organizations  which  cover  the 
whole  of  Belgium.  Membership  is  open  to  trade  unions,  cooperative 
societies,  political  organizations  called  "workers'  leagues,"  communal 
socialist  unions,  and  the  political  sections  of  friendly  societies  (mutu- 
alites).  The  complete  establishment  of  socialism  is  the  aim  of  the 
Party,  which  in  1920  had  540,000  members  and  seventy  adherents 
in  the  national  Chamber  of  Representatives.  It  is  affiliated  with 
the  second  INTERNATIONALE.  (See  COMMISSION  SYNDICALE  BELGE; 
BELGIAN  TRADE  UNIONS.) 

Partial  General  Strike.     See  GENERAL  STRIKE. 

[367] 


Particulars  Clause.  An  important  section  of  the  British 
FACTORY  AND  WORKSHOP  ACT  of  1891  which  provides,  as  regards 
textile  manufactures,  that  the  employer  shall  state  in  writing,  before 
the  job  is  begun,  all  the  particulars  (including  the  rate  of  payment) 
required  for  the  precise  computation  of  the  workers'  earnings.  The 
clause  has  since  been  extended  to  cover  a  number  of  other  PIECE 
WORK  trades. 

Partido  Laborista  Mexicano.  The  national  Labor  Party 
of  Mexico,  formed  in  March,  1920.  It  is  composed  of  both  city  work- 
ers and  farm  laborers,  and  is  organized  in  national,  state,  electoral 
district,  and  municipal  units,  with  subcommittees  for  small  towns. 
The  party  supports  the  CONFEDERACION  REGIONAL  OBRERA  MEXI- 
CANA  (Mexican  Regional  Confederation  of  Labor),  and  endeavors  to 
carry  out  that  organization's  programme  in  the  political  field. 

Partido  Socialista  Obrero  (Socialist  Labor  Party).  See 
SPANISH  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Partnering.    See  TEAM  WORK. 
Passive  Resistance  Strike.    See  HARTAL. 

Passport  Agreement,  Japanese -American.  See  JAPANESE- 
AMERICAN  PASSPORT  AGREEMENT. 

Paternalism.  A  term  derived  from  the  Latin  word  pater, 
meaning  "father."  As  most  commonly  used,  it  refers  to  the  theory 
and  practice  of  a  government  or  of  the  ruling  classes  which  attempt 
close  control  and  supervision  of  the  social  and  economic  affairs  of 
the  people,  in  much  the  same  manner  that  a  father  deals  with  his 
children.  Two  forms  of  paternalism,  each  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  other,  should  be  carefully  distinguished.  One  form  is  that  which 
would  trust  the  conduct  of  human  affairs  solely  to  the  wisdom  and 
beneficence  of  the  possessing  classes.  "Just  as  the  true  solution  of 
the  problem  of  government  was  felt  to  consist  in  the  training  up  of  a 
wise,  strong,  and  humane  body  of  governors  who  would  carry  out 
with  justice  and  selflessness  the  function  with  which  they  were  en- 
trusted so  the  industrial  problem  would  be  solved  only  when  the  em- 
ployers and  the  landlords  understood  that  they  owed  a  duty  to  the 
men  of  whom  they  were  in  charge.  .  .  .  The  rich  and  the  rulers  must 
be  converted  by  the  teaching  of  the  most  enlightened  among  their 
number  into  an  aristocracy  of  service."  The  second  form  is  that 
represented  by  STATE  SOCIALISM;  the  paternalistic  functions  in  this 

[368] 


case  are  exercised  not  by  individuals  among  the  possessing  classes, 
but  by  the  governmental  machinery  of  the  State.  Naturally  enough, 
the  most  bitter  opponents  of  this  latter  form  of  paternalism  are  the 
adherents  of  the  form  first  mentioned  above;  the  individual  paternalist 
is  commonly  the  last  person  who  wishes  to  be  himself  paternalized. 
While  the  European  labor  movement  for  a  long  time  leaned  toward 
State  socialism,  there  is  now  a  marked  tendency  among  the  workers 
in  every  country  to  reject  paternalism  in  any  form.  This  tendency 
expresses  itself  most  obviously  in  (i)  opposition  to  anything  which 
seems  to  place  the  representatives  of  labor  under  the  dominance  of 
reformers  or  of  the  representatives  of  organized  capital — as  for 
example,  WELFARE  WORK;  and  (2)  opposition  to  all  laws  and  govern- 
mental tendencies  which  may  restrict  complete  freedom  of  action 
on  the  part  of  labor  organizations.  (See  BENEVOLENT  FEUDALISM.) 

Patrimony.  In  labor  affairs,  this  term  denotes  an  old  custom 
whereby  the  JOURNEYMEN  in  certain  occupations  were  privileged 
to  bring  their  own  sons  into  the  trade  as  APPRENTICES,  and  to  instruct 
them  in  the  processes  of  the  craft.  This  custom  still  survives  to  some 
extent.  The  National  Window  Glass  Workers,  for  example,  make 
relationship  a  strict  qualification  for  apprenticeship,  while  some  other 
unions  give  the  preference  to  sons  of  journeymen.  It  is  also  to  be 
found  in  the  cutlery  industry  of  Sheffield,  England. 

Patrolling.     See  PICKETING. 

Patrolmen.  In  the  district  organizations  of  the  Interna- 
tional Seamen's  Union  these  are  officers  whose  function  it  is  to  visit 
sailors'  headquarters  along  the  water-front,  examine  the  cards  of 
members  on  incoming  and  outgoing  vessels,  and  collect  dues.  (See 
SHOP  STEWARD.) 

Pauper  Labor.  A  phrase  often  used  in  arguments  for  a  pro- 
tective tariff  in  the  United  States,  particularly  when  such  arguments 
are  addressed  to  the  working  classes.  It  is  intended  to  designate  the 
"poorly  paid"  laborers  of  Europe,  whose  competition  would  theo- 
retically be  disastrous  to  the  "highly  paid"  American  workmen,  if 
the  products  of  the  latter  were  not  "protected"  by  a  high  tariff. 

Pay  Agencies.     See  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS. 
Pay  Orders.     See  SCRIPT. 

Pay  Roll  Period.  That  period  of  time — one  week,  two  weeks, 
a  month,  etc., — which  in  a  particular  plant  or  industry  is  taken  as 
the  basis  for  computing  the  amount  of  wages  due  employees. 

[369] 


Payment  by  Results.  A  general  term  applying  to  any  system 
of  wage  payment  in  which  the  amount  of  wages  is  dependent  in  one 
way  or  another  upon  the  amount  of  output.  STRAIGHT  PIECE  WORK 
is  of  course  the  simplest  and  commonest  form  of  "payment  by  re- 
sults," but  numerous  other  systems,  usually  based  on  the  bonus  or 
premium  plan,  have  been  devised.  In  some  cases  payment  by  re- 
sults is  worked  on  a  purely  individual  basis,  each  individual  worker 
being  paid  in  proportion  to  his  or  her  individual  output.  In  others  the 
system  adopted  is  collective,  and  payment  is  made  on  the  total  out- 
put of  a  shop  or  group  of  workers  without  reference  to  the  output 
of  any  particular  individual.  (See  PIECE  WORK,  and  the  cross 
references  thereunder.) 

Payment  in  Kind.     See  TRUCK  SYSTEM. 

Peaceful  Picketing.     See  PICKETING. 

Peaceful  Persuasion.     See  PICKETING. 

Peaceful  Union.     See  COMPANY  UNION. 

Pearled  Strike.     See  GREVE  PERLEE. 

Penetration.    See  BORING  FROM  WITHIN;  DUAL  UNIONISM. 

Pennsylvania  State  Constabulary.  See  STATE  CONSTABU- 
LARY; INTER-CHURCH  STEEL  REPORT. 

Pension  Funds.     See  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE.  . 

Peon  Labor.  Unskilled  workers  of  the  lower  classes  are 
known  as  "peons"  in  Mexico  and  other  Spanish-American  countries. 
The  phrase  "peon  labor"  often  refers  to  the  PEONAGE  system;  but 
more  commonly  it  denotes  the  class  of  native  Mexicans  who  are  em- 
ployed in  the  United  States  as  common  laborers  in  railway  construc- 
tion, fruit-growing,  etc.  Peon  labor  is  particularly  prevalent  in  the 
southwestern  border  states. 

Peonage.  In  general,  a  "status  or  condition  of  compulsory 
service  based  upon  the  indebtedness  of  the  peon  to  the  master." 
The  term  is  commonly  used  in  designation  of  a  system,  practically 
amounting  to  slavery,  prevalent  in  South  America  and  Mexico  and 
sometimes  practiced  in  the  United  States  by  lumber  and  mining  cor- 
porations, southern  planters,  etc.  In  South  America,  Mexico,  and 
the  southern  states,  it  consists  specifically  of  holding  a  laborer  in 
forced  labor  until  his  debts  to  the  employer  are  paid.  Such  debts 
generally  originate  in  advances  made  by  the  employer  to  the  laborer, 


or  in  the  payment  by  an  employer  of  fines  and  costs  in  cases  of  mis- 
demeanor on  a  laborer's  part,  especially  violation  of  vagrancy  laws. 
As  described  in  the  "Labor  International  Handbook,"  "the  pro- 
cedure is  that  of  encouraging  the  laborer  to  get  into  debt.  It  may  be 
done  by  selling  him  an  attractive  blanket,  or  a  mule,  or  it  may  be 
done  by  tempting  him  into  an  act  of  moral  depravity.  It  is  the 
first  step  which  counts.  Once  the  laborer  becomes  in  debt,  he  is 
on  the  highroad  to  perpetual  slavery  in  the  form  of  peonage,  for  the 
astute  creditor — generally  the  plantation  owner — keeps  one  vicious 
principle  in  mind,  namely,  that  of  maintaining  the  debt  at  a  point 
where  it  can  never  be  overtaken.  To  the  original  debt  is  added 
interest,  fines,  additional  loans,  further  sales,  in  many  cases  the 
manipulation  of  accounts,  and  the  hundred  and  one  venal  practices 
which  inflate  the  debt  beyond  any  hope  of  liquidation.  One  of  the 
most  diabolical  features  of  this  situation  is  that  although  slave-trading 
is  illegal  in  all  these  countries,  the  peon  can  in  fact  be  bartered  and 
sold,  familes  can  be  divided,  fathers  sold  from  children  and  children 
sold  from  their  parents.  All  this  is  done  in  a  regular  manner."  The 
term  "peonage"  is  now  generally  applied  to  any  method  by  which 
a  person  is  physically  held  outside  the  law  on  any  pretext,  and  made 
to  perform  labor  against  his  will.  Peonage  in  the  United  States  is 
a  direct  violation  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
which  forbids  INVOLUNTARY  SERVITUDE  except  as  a  punishment  for 
crime.  (See  PEON  LABOR.) 

People's  Commissariat  of  Labor.  One  of  the  most  important 
of  the  eighteen  main  executive  divisions  of  the  Russian  Soviet 
government.  It  determines  and  directs  the  national  labor  policy, 
sees  to  the  enforcement  of  the  labor  code,  etc.  At  the  head  of  the 
Commissariat  is  a  People's  Commissar  of  Labor,  who  acts  as  the 
President  of  an  assisting  "collegium"  (committee)  of  nine  members, 
five  of  whom  are  elected  representatives  of  the  ALL-RUSSIAN  COUN- 
CIL OF  PROFESSIONAL  ALLIANCES,  the  other  four  being  appointed  by 
the  Council  of  People's  Commissars.  The  work  of  the  Commissariat 
of  Labor  is  distributed  among  several  specialized  departments,  such 
as  the  Department  of  Labor  Protection,  the  Department  of  Labor 
Distribution,  etc.  Local  and  district  offices  of  the  Commissariat 
are  maintained  in  nearly  all  parts  of  Russia.  (See  LABOR  INSPECTION 
IN  RUSSIA.) 

Per  Capita  Tax.  The  regular  methods  by  which  a  national 
union  replenishes  its  treasury  are  a  CHARTER  FEE  on  the  organization 
of  new  LOCALS,  and  a  per  capita  tax  of  so  much  each  week  or  month 

[37i] 


levied  on  the  local  units  in  proportion  to  their  membership.  The 
per  capita  tax  varies,  in  the  main,  from  as  little  as  two  and  a  half 
cents  a  month  up  to  as  much  as  fifty  cents  a  month.  The  amount 
is  determined  less  by  the  ability  of  the  members  to  pay  than  by  the 
strength  of  the  organization  and  the  degree  in  which  the  system  of 
BENEFITS  has  been  developed.  In  a  few  cases,  instead  of  being  a 
fixed  amount,  it  is  a  percentage  of  the  wages  of  the  members.  SPECIAL 
ASSESSMENTS  are  also,  as  a  rule,  levied  on  a  per  capita  basis.  The 
constituent  units  of  national  federations  and  other  federated  bodies 
usually  pay  a  periodic  per  capita  tax  to  the  federal  organization. 
(See  STAMP  RECEIPT  SYSTEM.) 

Percentage  of  Unemployment.  In  statistical  work,  etc.,  the 
"percentage  of  unemployment"  for  a  given  month  is  usually  secured 
by  dividing  the  greatest  number  of  persons  employed  during  the  year 
into  the  difference  between  that  number  and  the  average  number 
employed  during  the  month  in  question. 

Permanent -Disability  Benefits.     See  DISABILITY  BENEFITS. 

Permeation  Policy.  The  method,  long  chiefly  associated 
with  the  tactics  of  the  English  FABIAN  SOCIETY,  of  advancing  the 
cause  of  SOCIALISM  by  impressing  socialistic  doctrines  little  by  little, 
as  opportunity  offers,  upon  political  parties  and  other  non-socialist 
organizations,  as  well  as  upon  individual  members  of  society. 

Permit  System.  A  term  sometimes  applied  to  the  plan  under 
which  a  trade  union,  during  a  temporary  labor  shortage  in  the  par- 
ticular trade  concerned,  might  admit  for  a  limited  period  workers 
from  other  trades,  instead  of  permanently  enlarging  the  union. 

Personal  Record  System.  The  method  followed  by  many 
large  corporations  of  requiring  applicants  for  employment  to  fill 
out  elaborate  blanks,  covering  all  details  connected  with  the  working 
career  of  the  applicant — names  of  previous  employers,  terms  of  ser- 
vice with  each,  reason  for  changing  positions,  trade  union  affiliations, 
etc.  It  is  often  alleged  by  workers  that  the  information  thus  secured 
is  used  in  some  cases  for  BLACKLIST  purposes.  (See  RUSTLING  CARD; 
DISCHARGE  BOOK  SYSTEM.) 

Personnel    Administration    or    Personnel    Management. 

As  defined  by  Messrs.  Tead  and  Metcalf,  this  consists  in  "the  direc- 
tion and  coordination  of  any  [industrial]  organization  with  a  view 
to  getting  the  maximum  necessary  production  with  a  minimum  of 
effort  and  friction  and  with  proper  regard  for  the  genuine  well-being 

[372] 


of  the  workers."  The  principal  functions  or  activities  of  personnel 
administration  may  be  stated  as  follows:  (i)  Employment;  (2)  health 
and  safety;  (3)  education;  (4)  research  (JOB  ANALYSIS,  plant  analysis, 
etc.);  (5)  service  (recreation,  lunch-rooms,  etc.);  (6)  adjustment  and 
joint  relations.  In  nearly  all  large  plants  these  activities  are  divided 
into  two  main  groups,  commonly  known  as  EMPLOYMENT  MANAGE- 
MENT and  WELFARE  WORK,  and  a  separate  official  is  placed  in  charge 
of  each  group;  but  in  some  cases  both  groups  are  combined  under  a 
single  PERSONNEL  MANAGER.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  DEPART- 
MENT; HUMAN  ENGINEERING;  LABOR  AUDIT;  MORALE  IN  INDUSTRY; 
INDUSTRIAL  HEALTH  WORK;  SUGGESTION  SYSTEM;  INDUSTRIAL 
COUNSELLORS.) 

Personnel  Department.    See  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  DEPART- 

MENT. 

Personnel  Manager.  Attention  given  in  recent  years  to 
problems  of  hiring  labor,  decreasing  the  LABOR  TURNOVER,  rewarding 
efficiency,  promoting  from  the  ranks,  developing  MORALE,  and  doing 
away  with  unsatisfactory  working  conditions  has  created  an  em- 
ployers' official  known  as  a  personnel  manager,  who  deals  solely  with 
the  human  factor  in  industrial  production.  While  the  PRODUCTION 
MANAGER,  or  efficiency  engineer,  seeks  to  increase  production  largely 
by  mechanical  improvements,  the  personnel  manager  goes  after  the 
same  result  by  creating  and  maintaining  a  loyal  and  efficient  working 
force,  by  improving  the  general  conditions  of  employment,  by  de- 
veloping special  service  features  such  as  rest  rooms,  restaurants, 
recreational  and  educational  opportunities,  etc.,  by  studying  the 
psychology  of  the  individual  worker  and  supplying  him  with  personal 
incentives  and  stimuli  The  administration  of  safety  and  health 
policies  is  also  normally  centralized  in  his  department.  (See  PER- 
SONNEL ADMINISTRATION.) 

Phalange.     See  FOURIERISM. 
Phalanstere.     See  FOURIERISM. 

Philippines,  Labor  Organization  in  the.  The  conception 
of  trade  unionism  among  the  Filipinos,  according  to  Glocker's 
"Government  of  American  Trade  Unions,')  was  a  result  of  the 
American  conquest  of  the  islands.  "In  1899,  shortly  after  the  Amer- 
ican invasion,  they  made  their  first  attempt  to  organize  unions,  and 
societies  of  barbers,  cigar  makers,  tobacco  workers,  carpenters, 
wood  workers,  painters,  lithographers,  and  others  rapidly  appeared. 

[373] 


A  few  groups  of  American  workmen  who  had  been  attracted  to  the 
islands  after  the  annexation  organized  themselves  as  branches  of 
the  trade  unions  at  home.  The  Filipinos  have  avoided  all  alliances 
with  the  North  American  associations.  They  have  not  imitated  the 
American  method  of  forming  federations  of  the  local  societies  of 
each  trade  and  of  further  federating  the  federations  into  general 
labor  unions.  All  their  local  societies  are  united  irrespective  of 
trade  divisions  into  the  Democratic  Labor  Union  of  the  Philippines. 
Agents  of  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  have  endeavored  to 
persuade  them  to  adopt  the  American  method  of  organization  and 
affiliate  themselves  with  the  continental  unions,  but  so  far  the 
Filipinos  have  held  aloof." 

Philosophical  Anarchism.     See  ANARCHISM. 

Pick  Mining.  The  common  designation  among  coal  miners 
for  hand  as  distinguished  from  machine  mining — both  methods 
being  often  followed  in  the  same  mine  or  mining  district. 

Picketing.  It  is  a  common  custom  for  workers  conducting  a 
STRIKE  to  place  "pickets"  or  "patrols"  along  the  avenues  of  approach 
to  the  "struck"  establishment,  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  pos- 
sible recruits  for  the  employer,  informing  them  of  the  situation,  and 
endeavoring  to  dissuade  them  from  entering  his  employment.  Pickets 
often  perform  other  duties  as  well,  such  as  securing  information 
regarding  the  employer's  plans  and  movements,  or  dissuading  the 
public  from  patronizing  an  establishment  against  which  a  strike  is 
in  progress.  Picketing  has,  as  a  rule,  been  considered  legal  in  this 
country  as  long  as  it  was  "peaceful" — i.e.,  as  long  as  the  method 
followed  was  persuasion  rather  than  INTIMIDATION.  In  actual  prac- 
tice, however,  the  courts  have  repeatedly  held  that  any  form  of 
picketing  involves  at  least  the  threat  or  possibility  of  coercion,  and 
it  is  therefore  frequently  declared  illegal.  "The  practice  of  picketing, 
apart  from  open  threats  or  intimidation,  has  been  held  illegal  by  courts 
of  ultimate  resort  in  several  States.  INJUNCTIONS  against  the 
practice  are  not  infrequently  issued  by  the  lower  courts  in  other 
States,  where,  perhaps,  the  higher  courts  would  not  uphold  such 
injunctions.  Two  or  three  leading  decisions  have  declared  that  even 
entirely  peaceful  picketing  involves  a  degree  of  coercion.  In  one 
case  a  Federal  court  enjoined  'unlawful  persuasion'  of  persons  seek- 
ing employment ;  and,  while  the  phrase  is  vague,  and  is  coupled  with 
others  restraining  direct  threats  and  intimidation,  it  seems  to  imply 
the  idea  that  the  strikers  have  no  right  to  persuade  men  not  to  take 

[374] 


their  places,  presumably  because  this  would  interfere  with  the  con- 
duct of  business  by  the  employer.  This  idea  of  the  illegality  of 
interference  with  the  employer's  business  is  doubtless  held  also  by 
the  various  inferior  courts  which  have  recently  prohibited  by  injunc- 
tion even  peaceful  persuasion  of  those  seeking  employment.  The 
supreme  court  of  Pennsylvania  has  even  asserted  that  it  is  unlawful 
to  consume  the  time  of  men  seeking  employment  by  urging  them  not 
to  do  so."  In  at  least  three  states — Alabama,  Colorado,  and  Utah — 
picketing  is  a  statutory  misdemeanor,  and  many  cities  have  passed 
ordinances  to  the  same  effect.  In  England,  the  TRADE  DISPUTES 
ACT  of  1906  expressly  legalized  peaceful  picketing;  but  there,  as 
here,  the  courts  are  prone  to  deny  that  such  a  thing  as  "peaceful 
picketing"  is  possible,  and  the  use  of  this  trade  union  weapon  is 
very  seriously  restricted.  Picketing  is  entirely  prohibited  in  France. 
(See  CLAYTON  ACT;  CHASSE  AUX  RENARD.) 

Picture  Brides.  Under  the  JAPANESE-AMERICAN  PASSPORT 
AGREEMENT  of  1 907,  Japan  is  free  to  grant  passports  to  women  com- 
ing to  join  husbands  in  this  country,  although  such  women  may  be 
of  the  laboring  class  and  may  become  laborers  here.  A  large  number 
of  the  women  thus  admitted  secure  the  right  to  come  under  the  terms 
of  the  agreement  based  on  a  peculiar  wedding  ceremony  or  contract 
whereby  women  in  Japan  become  the  wives  of  men  already  in  the 
United  States,  the  class  being  popularly  known  as  "picture  brides." 

Piece  Master  or  Jobber.  A  contractor  who  arranges  to  pro- 
vide the  labor  required  for  a  particular  job,  receives  a  lump  sum  in 
payment  for  that  labor,  and  makes  his  own  terms  with  the  individual 
workers  whom  he  engages.  Owing  to  trade  union  hostility,  the  piece 
master  or  jobber  has  been  largely  eliminated  as  a  factor  in  industrial 
operations.  (See  PIECE  WORKER;  CONTRACT  SYSTEM;  LITTLE 
MASTER.) 

Piece  Price  System  of  Convict  Labor.  Under  this  system 
contracts  are  made  with  persons,  firms,  or  corporations  under  which 
the  prison  is  furnished  by  them  with  materials  in  proper  shape  for 
working;  the  materials  thus  furnished  are  converted  by  the  labor  of 
the  convicts  into  finished  products,  which  are  delivered  to  the  con- 
tractors at  agreed  prices  per  piece,  the  work  of  manufacturing  being 
conducted  wholly  under  the  supervision  of  the  prison  officials.  (See 
CONVICT  LABOR  SYSTEMS;  PRISON  LABOR;  ACCORD  SYSTEM.) 

Piece  Work.  Generally  speaking,  the  method  of  wage  pay- 
ment under  which  a  worker  is  paid  for  each  unit  of  production  or 

[375] 


each  unit  of  effort  expended — instead  of  by  »the  hour,  day,  week,  or 
other  time  unit.  While  thus  distinct  in  principle  from  TIME  WORK, 
the  prices  paid  for  piece  work  are  naturally  determined  in  largest 
part  by  the  amount  of  time  consumed  in  the  particular  process 
involved.  Thus,  a  common  time  standard  is  at  the  basis  of  both 
systems.  "Where  Trade  Unions  are  strong,  they  generally  attempt 
to  secure  a  guarantee  that  the  earnings  of  the  piece-worker  will  not 
fall  below  the  hourly  rate  of  wages.  Not  only  do  the  Unions  seek  to 
establish  piece-prices  on  such  a  basis  that  actual  earnings  under 
piece  work  conditions  shall  be  above  the  standard  time-rate;  they 
also  demand  an  absolute  guarantee  that  every  worker  shall  receive 
at  least  the  standard  time-rate,  without  reference  to  output.  In 
some  few  cases  they  have  gone  further,  and  have  provided  that,  since 
piece  work  is  openly  advocated  on  the  ground  that  it  secures  greater 
output  and  therefore  greater  effort  from  the  worker,  more  than  the 
standard  time-rate  (e.g.,  time  and  a  quarter)  shall  be  guaranteed  to 
every  individual  who  is  working  on  piece  work."  The  piece  work 
system  is  usually  adopted  in  industries  where  direct  supervision  of 
the  worker  is  difficult,  and  where  the  work  done  is  REPETITION 
WORK.  Furthermore,  it  is  easiest  to  establish  and  operate  where  the 
following  conditions  are  present:  (i)  Where  a  given  amount  of 
effort  and  skill  can  be  relied  upon  to  result  in  a  given  product; 
(2)  where  the  product  is  easily  measurable  in  simple  quantitative 
terms — e.g.,  by  the  ton;  (3)  where  increased  productivity  means  a 
considerable  saving  in  standing  charges,  and  thereby  a  reduction 
in  the  cost  of  production  per  unit;  (4)  where  a  highly  developed 
system  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  exists  or  can  be  created  It  is 
generally  held  by  the  workers  themselves  that  the  piece  work  system 
results  in  the  giving  of  more  work  for  the  same  pay;  and  it  is  even 
maintained  that  no  intensity  of  exertion  beyond  a  certain  point  will 
give  any  permanent  increase  of  daily  wages.  Every  employer  has 
in  his  mind,  it  is  said,  a  somewhat  definite  standard  of  fair  wages  for 
every  class  of  workers.  He  is  likely  to  assume  that  all  of  them 
could,  if  they  would,  do  as  much  as  the  fastest  actually  do.  If  the 
fastest  considerably  and  habitually  exceed  the  amount  of  earnings 
which  seem  to  him  proper,  he  is  certain,  say  the  workmen,  to  re- 
duce the  piece  price.  The  attitude  of  the  trade  unions  of  Great 
Britain  toward  piece  work,  as  it  appears  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb, 
is  summed  up  in  the  following  passage:  "What  the  capitalist  seeks 
is  to  get  more  work  for  the  old  pay.  Sometimes  this  can  be  achieved 
best  by  piece  work,  sometimes  by  time  work.  Workmen,  on  the 
other  hand,  strive  to  obtain  more  pay  for  the  same  number  of  working 

[376] 


hours.  For  the  moment,  at  any  rate,  the  individual  operative  can 
most  easily  secure  this  by  piece  work.  But  not  even  for  the  sake  of 
getting  more  pay  for  the  same  number  of  hours'  work  will  the  ex- 
perienced workman  revert  to  the  individual  bargain,  with  all  its 
dangers.  Accordingly,  the  trade  unions  accept  piece  work  only  when 
it  is  consistent  with  collective  bargaining;  that  is,  when  a  standard 
list  of  prices  can  be  arrived  at  between  the  employers  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  representatives  of  the  whole  body  of  workmen  on  the 
other.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  practicable,  so  far  as  concerns 
anything  above  mere  unskilled  laboring,  in  a  majority  of  the  or- 
ganized industries,  in  which,  therefore,  piece  work  prevails  by  consent 
of  both  masters  and  men."  This  is  no  doubt  the  attitude  of  most 
American  trade  unions  also.  In  actual  practice,  the  piece  work 
system  assumes  a  number  of  variant  forms,  which  are  described  else- 
where in  this  volume  under  separate  titles  included  in  the  cross 
references  below.  (See  WAGE  PAYMENT  METHODS;  STRAIGHT  PIECE 
WORK;  COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK;  INDIVIDUAL  PIECE  WORK;  MUTU- 
ALITY; FELLOWSHIP  PIECE  WORK;  BONUS  SYSTEM;  PREMIUM  BONUS 
SYSTEM;  LOG  SYSTEM  OF  RATE  MAKING;  COUNTY  AVERAGE  SYSTEM; 
PAYMENT  BY  RESULTS;  PRICE  LIST;  PRICE  CUTTING;  PIECE  MASTER; 
PRICE  ADJUSTER;  CLICKING  SYSTEM;  PRICE  COMMITTEE;  SPEEDING 
UP;  ABNORMAL  PLACE;  CONTRACT  MINING;  MOVE;  PARTICULARS 
CLAUSE;  GOOD  FROM  OVEN;  BAD  SPINNING.) 

Piece  Work  List.    See  PRICE  LIST. 

Piece  Worker.  An  employee  engaged  in  industrial  operations 
on  a  PIECE  WORK  basis.  In  England,  this  term  originally  denoted 
a  contractor  or  PIECE  MASTER,  and  it  is  still  occasionally  used  in  that 
sense. 

Pin  Money  or  Pocket  Money  Theory.  The  idea,  popular 
with  "sweating"  employers,  that  most  girls  who  enter  industry  do 
so  merely  to  earn  "pin  money,"  that  they  "live  at  home,"  and  con- 
sequently do  not  require  a  LIVING  WAGE.  The  pin  money  theory 
has  been  repeatedly  punctured  by  thorough  labor  investigations. 

Pin  Money  or  Pocket  Money  Workers.  Those  persons — 
principally  farmers'  wives  and  daughters,  domestic  servants,  etc. 
— who  put  in  their  spare  time  and  earn  "pin  money"  by  doing  at 
home  work  that  would  otherwise  be  done  in  a  factory.  In  the  gar- 
ment trades  particularly,  where  a  considerable  part  of  the  "finish- 
ing" is  done  by  pin  money  workers,  the  competition  of  such  workers 
is  an  important  factor  iq  keeping  factory  or  shop  wages  below  a  decent 

(3771 


subsistence  level.  The  contractors  and  sub-contractors  who  usually 
control  this  work  often  establish  warehouses  in  the  country  districts, 
and  regularly  distribute  and  collect  garments  among  home  workers. 
(See  HOME  WORK.) 

Pink  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL  WORKING  UNION  OP 
SOCIALIST  PARTIES. 

Pinkertons  or  Pinkerton  Men.  See  LABOR  DETECTIVE 
AGENCIES. 

Pit  Boss.  The  foreman  in  direct  charge  of  coal  miners  engaged 
in  underground  work.  He  is  supposed  to  look  after  the  safety  of 
the  men,  as  well  as  to  secure  the  maximum  production  of  coal.  The 
pit  boss  negotiates  directly  with  the  trade  union  PIT  COMMITTEE 
in  regard  to  complaints  and  grievances  arising  in  the  course  of  work. 
The  corresponding  official  in  metal  mines  is  called  the  "shift  boss." 

Pit  Committee  or  Mine  Committee.  A  body  representative 
of  the  organized  workers  in  a  single  coal  mine,  and  charged  with  the 
adjustment  of  minor  disputes  arising  between  the  workers  and  the 
management,  as  well  as  with  the  oversight  of  certain  matters  of  trade 
union  administration,  in  the  particular  mine  involved.  It  corresponds 
in  general,  to  a  SHOP  COMMITTEE  or  WORKS  COMMITTEE  in  other 
industries.  (See  SUB-LOCAL.) 

Pithead  Committee.    See  TIMEKEEPING  COMMITTEE. 

Place  of  Wage  Payment.  The  one-time  prevalent  custom  of 
"paying  off"  industrial  workers  in  saloons  or  other  public  resorts, 
with  its  attendant  evils,  has  been  abolished  in  some  states  of  this 
country  and  in  some  foreign  countries  by  legislative  enactment. 
Such  laws  usually  provide  that  wages  shall  always  be  paid  on  the 
employer's  premises;  but  in  some  cases  they  specifically  prohibit 
payment  in  saloons,  taverns,  public  houses,  etc. 

Placement  Work.  A  general  designation  for  the  activities 
of  public  and  other  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS  in  finding  jobs  for  idle 
workers  and  workers  for  unfilled  jobs. 

Planning  Department.     See  INSTRUCTION  CARD  SYSTEM. 

Plant,  (i)  An  entire  industrial  factory  or  WORKS,  in  a  given 
locality,  including  all  units,  operations,  or  departments  known 
individually  as  SHOPS.  (2)  A  slang  term  used  in  labor  circles  to  denote 
a  spy  introduced  as  a  workman  among  other  workmen,  or  a  trap  set 

[378] 


to  involve  workmen  in  some  discreditable  occurrence.  The  terms 
"frame"  and  "frame-up"  are  also  often  used  in  the  latter  sense. 
(See  AGENT  PROVOCATEUR.) 

Plant  Committee  or  Council.     See  WORKS  COMMITTEE. 

Plant  Union.  One  that  is  representative  of  all  the  workers, 
regardless  of  craft  distinctions,  in  a  single  factory  or  other  industrial 
establishment. 

Plebs  League.  A  British  organization  which  seeks  to  "propa- 
gate the  educational  principles  and  policies  upon  which  the  CENTRAL 
LABOR  COLLEGE  was  founded."  The  League  originated  among  the 
more  radical  students  of  RUSKIN  COLLEGE,  who  seceded  in  1909  and 
with  their  principal,  Dr.  Dennis  Hird,  helped  to  found  the  Central 
Labor  College.  Like  that  college,  the  League  is  frankly  devoted 
to  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION  along  the  lines  of  Marxian  SOCIALISM. 

Pluck  Me  Stores.  Owing  to  the  extortionate  prices  often 
charged  by  COMPANY  STORES,  these  are  commonly  known  among 
workers  as  "pluck  me  stores." 

Plumb  Plan.  A  proposal  relating  to  the  ownership  and  man- 
agement of  the  United  States  railroad  systems,  formulated  by  Glenn 
E.  Plumb,  a  railroad  lawyer,  in  1919.  The  Plumb  Plan  seeks  to  offer 
a  practicable  alternative  to  a  bureaucratic  scheme  of  public  owner- 
ship on  one  hand,  and  the  method  of  private  control  on  the  other. 
It  would  make  the  national  government  trustee  for  the  entire  railroad 
system.  The  management  would  be  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of 
directors,  consisting  of  fifteen  members,  five  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  represent  the  public,  five  elected  by  the  classified  railroad 
employees  to  represent  labor,  and  five  elected  by  the  railroad  officials 
to  represent  the  management.  Government  bonds  would  be  issued 
to  purchase  the  railroads,  at  evaluations  determined  by  the  courts. 
A  gradual  amortization  would  take  place  through  the  reduction  of 
the  outstanding  indebtedness  by  one  per  cent  each  year.  Profits 
resulting  from  efficient  operation,  after  fixed  charges  were  met,  would 
be  divided  equally  between  the  government  and  the  operating  force. 
Whenever  the  government's  share  of  profits  exceeded  a  fixed  per- 
centage of  the  gross  operating  revenue,  the  freight  and  passenger 
rates  would  be  automatically  reduced  to  absorb  the  government's 
surplus.  Advocates  of  the  plan  have  urged  its  application  to  other 
basic  industries  of  a  "public  service"  nature — of  course  with  such 
modifications  as  the  character  of  each  specific  industry  would  make 

[379] 


desirable  or  necessary.  The  Plumb  Plan  has  the  endorsement  and 
support  not  only  of  the  principal  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS,  but  of 
the  great  majority  of  organized  American  labor  in  other  industries. 
It  has  a  direct  propaganda  agency  in  the  Plumb  Plan  League,  which 
issues  a  weekly  newspaper  from  its  central  headquarters  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

Pocket  Money  Theory.    See  PIN  MONEY  THEORY. 
Pocket  Money  Workers.     See  PIN  MONEY  WORKERS. 

Police  Power.  In  the  United  States,  most  of  the  so-called 
FACTORY  ACTS  and  other  legislative  enactments  in  regard  to  wages, 
hours,  and  conditions  of  labor  are  fundamentally  based  on  what 
is  called  the  "police  power"  of  the  State.  "But  the  proper  extension 
of  the  police  power  is  viewed  differently  by  different  courts.  Regard- 
ing the  nature  of  the  police  power  in  itself  there  is  no  difference  of 
opinion;  it  is  supreme  wherever  reasonably  applicable,  and  may  be 
invoked  to  restrict  or  limit  the  FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT;  but  as  to  its 
extent  there  are  differences  of  legal  opinion.  It  includes  the  protec- 
tion of  the  health,  safety,  morals,  and  welfare  of  the  public.  These 
objects  are  indeed  broad,  and  might  apparently  on  their  face  justify 
many  kinds  of  interference.  The  main  point  of  difference  in  the 
decisions  of  the  courts  is  whether  the  police  power  extends  only 
to  the  protection  of  the  public  at  large,  or  whether  it  can  also  be  in- 
voked to  protect  the  individual  against  himself,  as  when  he  is  pro- 
hibited from  making  a  contract  which  is  injurious  to  himself.  .  .  . 
Many  courts  have  held  that  the  police  power  can  not  be  invoked 
to  prohibit  a  person  from  taking  industrial  risks  which  imperil  only 
himself  and  do  not  affect  the  community.  This  ruling,  however, 
has  not  been  applied  in  the  case  of  factory  laws,  which  have  been 
enacted  by  more  than  one-half  of  the  States,  with  the  object  of 
protecting  employees  from  dangerous  machinery  and  unwholesome 
conditions  of  work." 

Policing.  Among  British  workmen,  this  term  denotes  what 
is  regarded  as  needlessly  severe  or  offensive  oversight  on  the  part  of 
foremen  or  managers. 

Policing  of  Industry.  The  problem  of  policing  industry  is 
generally  conceived  to  lie  in  the  suppression  of  violence  and  the 
protection  of  life  and  property;  but  in  reality  it  consists  in  the  more 
fundamental  task  of  protecting  the  rights  of  both  employers  and  em- 
ployees, as  well  as  preserving  the  peace.  In  this  larger  sense,  the 

[380] 


courts  are  included  as  an  essential  factor  in  the  policing  of  industry. 
The  task  of  protecting  life  and  property  and  preserving  the  peace 
legitimately  belongs  to  the  public  peace  officers — municipal  police, 
town  constables,  county  sheriffs,  and  STATE  CONSTABULARY — and 
to  them  only.  If  these  authorities  find  the  task  beyond  their  powers, 
the  aid  of  the  state  militia  may  be  called  for.  Any  employment  of 
armed  bodies  of  men  under  private  control  is  an  obviously  illegal 
usurpation  of  public  authority,  and  of  necessity  denotes  the  break- 
down of  orderly  government.  (See  ARMED  GUARDS.) 

Polish  Labor  Movement.  Until  the  independence  of  Poland 
was  proclaimed  by  the  Allies  on  November  9,  1919,  trade  unionism 
had  struggled  against  heavy  odds  under  the  Austrian,  German,  and 
Russian  governments.  Thereafter,  however,  it  almost  immediately 
assumed  large  proportions.  The  first  Polish  Trade  Union  Congress 
was  held  in  May,  1920.  There  were  then  560,000  members  of  the 
SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC  UNIONS,  and  388,000  members  of  other  unions. 
The  strongest  association  was  the  Agricultural  Workers'  Federation, 
with  150,000  members.  The  new  Polish  government  has  been  no 
less  ruthless  than  the  old  absolutist  monarchies  of  Russia  and  Aus- 
tria and  Germany  in  repressing  radical  or  communist  elements  in  the 
labor  movement. 

Political  Action.  As  opposed  to  INDUSTRIAL  ACTION,  or 
DIRECT  ACTION,  in  the  labor  movement,  this  term  generally  has 
specific  reference  to  the  use  of  the  conventional  machinery  of  party 
politics  for  registering  working-class  opinion  and  attaining  working- 
class  ends.  But  in  common  usage  it  may  refer  to  almost  every  con- 
ceivable form  of  political  activity,  and  to  the  relationship  which  does 
or  might  obtain  between  labor  organizations  and  political  parties. 
Also  called  "indirect  action."  (See  PARLIAMENTARISM;  LEGAL  EN- 
ACTMENT.) 

Political  Strike.  As  distinguished  from  the  ECONOMIC  STRIKE, 
this  is  a  strike  that  is  not  directly  concerned  with  relations  between 
employers  and  employees,  but  seeks  to  enforce  some  political  or  social 
demand  of  the  strikers.  The  ultimate  end  in  view  may  indeed  be 
economic,  as  in  the  case  of  a  strike  to  enforce  NATIONALIZATION  of 
coal-mines  or  railways,  but  the  action  is  directed  not  against  employ- 
ers directly,  but  against  a  government  or  public  officials.  Also  called 
"non-economic  strike."  The  political  strike  is  practically  always  a 
GENERAL  STRIKE,  of  at  least  nation-wide  proportions.  (See  DIRECT 
ACTION;  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE.) 

Population  Principle.    See  MALTHUSIANISM. 

[381] 


Port  Labor  Committees.  In  England,  bodies  consisting  of 
employers  and  trade  union  representatives  in  equal  numbers,  estab- 
lished in  each  important  shipping  centre  during  the  recent  war,  for 
the  adjustment  of  problems  in  connection  with  dock  labor.  After 
the  armistice  a  central  advisory  port  labor  committee  was  formed, 
consisting  of  representatives  of  employers  and  labor  organizations 
from  each  port.  A  model  registration  scheme  was  prepared  by  this 
committee,  which  was  followed  roughly  in  the  various  ports.  The 
chief  purpose  of  the  scheme  is  to  protect  the  ports  against  an  influx 
of  CASUAL  LABOR.  The  system  of  port  labor  committees,  with  the 
central  advisory  port  labor  committee,  constitutes  what  is  virtually 
a  WHITLEY  PLAN  organization. 

Porto  Rican  Free  Federation  of  Workers.  A  considerable 
number  of  the  manual  wage-workers  in  the  island  of  Porto  Rico  are 
members  of  local  branches  of  various  American  international  unions. 
In  1920  there  were  206  such  locals,  affiliated  in  perhaps  a  dozen 
CENTRAL  BODIES,  and  comprising  about  22,000  members.  These 
locals  and  central  bodies  are  federated  in  the  Federation  Libre  or 
"Free  Federation,"  which  occupies  the  same  relative  position  to  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR  as  does  a  STATE  FEDERATION. 

Portuguese  General  Confederation  of  Labor.  See  CONFED- 
ERACAO  GERAL  DO  TRABALHO. 

Positive  Boycott.     See  BOYCOTT. 

Poverty.  As  summarized  in  J.  H.  Hollander's  "The  Abolition 
of  Poverty,"  the  word  "poverty"  in  ordinary  usage  is  applied  in- 
differently to  three  distinct  conditions:  (i)  Economic  inequality, 
(2)  economic  dependence,  and  (3)  economic  insufficiency.  A  man  is 
said  to  be  poor  in  mere  contrast  to  his  neighbor  who  is  rich;  this  is 
economic  inequality.  Almshouses  and  public  relief  minister  to  those 
who  in  the  eye  of  the  State  are  poor;  this  is  economic  dependence. 
Midway  between  the  modestly  circumstanced  and  the  outright  de- 
pendent are  the  poor  in  the  sense  of  the  inadequately  fed,  clad,  and 
sheltered;  this  is  economic  insufficiency.  "It  is  poverty  in  the  sense 
of  economic  insufficiency — its  wide  extent,  its  assumed  necessity, 
its  tragic  consequence — that  forms  the  real  problem.  There  are  great 
bodies  of  people  in  country  and  in  city  who  from  birth  have  less  than 
enough  food,  clothing,  and  shelter;  who  from  childhood  must  toil  long 
and  hard  to  secure  even  that  insufficient  amount ;  who  can  benefit  little 
from  the  world's  advance  in  material  comfort  and  in  spiritual  beauty 
because  their  bodies  are  undernourished,  their  minds  overstrained, 
and  their  souls  deadened  by  bitter  struggle  with  want.  These  are 

[382] 


the  real  poor  of  every  community — the  masses  who,  not  lacking  in 
industry  and  thrift,  are  yet  never  really  able  to  earn  enough  for 
decent  existence  and  who  toil  on  in  constant  fear  that  bare  necessities 
may  fail.  Neither  racial  qualities  nor  national  characteristics  account 
for  the  presence  of  such  poverty.  It  persists  as  an  accompaniment  of 
modern  economic  life,  in  widely  removed  countries  among  ethnically 
different  peoples.  It  cannot  be  identified  with  alien  elements  in 
native  race  stocks."  The  British  investigator,  B.  Seebohm  Rown- 
tree,  draws  a  definite  distinction  between  what  he  calls  primary 
poverty  and  secondary  poverty.  Families  were  said  to  be  in  primary 
poverty  when  their  total  earnings  were  "insufficient  to  obtain  the 
minimum  necessaries  for  the  maintenance  of  merely  physical 
efficiency."  Families  were  said  to  be  in  secondary  poverty  when  their 
"total  earnings  would  be  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  merely 
physical  efficiency  were  it  not  that  some  portion  of  it  is  absorbed 
by  other  expenditure,  either  useful  or  wasteful."  While  it  is  impossible 
to  state  with  any  fair  degree  of  accuracy  the  extent  of  poverty, 
either  in  this  country  or  abroad,  the  following  statement  from  the 
staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
is  of  value:  "It  is  evident  both  from  the  investigations  of  this  Com- 
mission and  from  the  reports  of  all  recent  Governmental  bodies  that 
a  large  part  of  our  industrial  population  are,  as  a  result  of  the  com- 
bination of  low  wages  and  UNEMPLOYMENT,  living  in  a  condition  of 
actual  poverty.  How  large  this  proportion  is  can  not  be  exactly 
determined,  but  it  is  certain  that  at  least  one-third  and  possibly 
one-half  of  the  families  of  wage-earners  employed  in  manufacturing 
and  mining  earn  in  the  course  of  the  year  less  than  enough  to  support 
them  in  anything  like  a  comfortable  and  decent  condition."  In 
connection  with  this  statement,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
poverty  is  of  less  proportionate  extent  in  the  United  States  than  in 
any  other  industrial  country.  (See  SICKNESS  INSURANCE.) 

Practical  Man.  Among  trade  unionists,  a  "practical  man" 
is  a  fully  qualified  JOURNEYMAN — one  who  has  served  the  required 
period  as  APPRENTICE  or  LEARNER,  and  has  gained  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge and  experience  of  his  trade;  while  an  "unpractical  man"  is 
one  who  does  not  possess  these  qualifications.  Often  the  specific 
occupation  is  indicated — as  in  the  terms  "practical  miner,"  "prac- 
tical printer,"  etc.  In  a  somewhat  different  sense,  trade  unionists 
sometimes  use  the  term  "practical  man"  in  designation  of  a  man 
who  is  actually  working  at  his  specific  trade  or  craft — as  distinguished 
from  one  who  has  only  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  the  trade  or  craft. 

[383] 


Preceptory.  A  SHOP  UNION  of  workers  in  the  American 
window  glass  industry  is  so  called.  The  plants  in  this  industry  are 
comparatively  few  and  widely  scattered,  usually  with  not  more  than 
one  plant  in  a  locality;  so  that  the  preceptory  takes  the  place  of  a 
LOCAL  in  the  national  organizations  of  window  glass  workers. 

Predatory  Unionism.  A  term  used  by  Professor  Hoxie  in 
his  standard  work  on  "Trade  Unionism  in  the  United  States"  to 
designate  a  functional  type  of  labor  organization  whose  "distin- 
guishing characteristic  is  the  ruthless  pursuit  of  the  thing  in  hand  by 
whatever  means  seem  most  appropriate  at  the  time,  regardless  of 
ethical  and  legal  codes  or  effect  upon  those  outside  its  own  member- 
ship." Of  this  general  type,  Professor  Hoxie  names  two  subspecies, 
the  first  of  which  he  calls  "hold-up  unionism."  This  variety  is  in 
outward  appearance  conservative,  but  in  reality  it  is  lawless  and 
unscrupulous.  Generally  it  is  boss-ridden  and  corrupt,  and  fre- 
quently it  combines  with  employers  to  "squeeze"  rival  employers, 
rival  labor  organizations,  or  the  consuming  public.  Its  methods  are 
a  mixture  of  open  bargaining  coupled  with  secret  bribery  and  vio- 
lence. The  second  subspecies,  which  he  designates  "guerilla  union- 
ism," is  distinguished  from  hold-up  unionism  by  the  fact  that  it 
operates  always  directly  against  the  employers,  never  in  combination 
with  them,  and  cannot  be  bought  off.  "  It  is  secret,  violent,  and  ruth- 
less, seemingly  because  it  despairs  of  attaining  what  it  considers 
to  be  legitimate  ends  by  business,  uplift,  or  revolutionary  methods." 
(See  MCNAMARA  CASE;  LOCKWOOD  COMMITTEE;  VIOLENCE  IN  THE 
LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Preferential  Shop  or  Preferential  Union  Shop.  A  com- 
promise between  the  CLOSED  SHOP  and  the  OPEN  SHOP  which  has 
been  particularly  successful  in  the  American  clothing  trades.  The 
principle  of  the  preferential  shop  is  thus  applied :  Whenever  the  em- 
ployer needs  additional  workers,  he  shall  first  make  application  to 
the  union,  specifying  the  number  and  kind  of  workers  needed.  The 
union  shall  be  given  a  reasonable  time  to  supply  the  specified  help, 
and  if  it  is  unable  or  for  any  reason  fails  to  furnish  the  required  per- 
sons, the  employer  shall  be  at  liberty  to  secure  them  in  the  open 
market  as  best  he  can.  In  like  manner,  the  principle  of  preference 
shall  be  applied  in  case  of  discharge.  Should  it  at  any  time  become 
necessary  to  reduce  the  force,  the  first  ones  to  be  dismissed  shall  be 
those  who  are  not  members  of  the  union  in  good  and  regular  standing. 
It  should  be  noted  that  the  preferential  shop  is  always  conducted 
under  a  JOINT  AGREEMENT,  arrived  at  through  COLLECTIVE  BARGAIN- 

[384] 


ING.    (See  PROTOCOL  ;  HART,  SCHAFFNER  &  MARX  LABOR  AGREEMENT  ; 
UNION  SHOP.) 

Premium  Bonus  System.  A  method  of  wage  payment  which, 
in  various  specialized  forms,  has  been  widely  adopted  in  American 
and  British  industry — generally  in  connection  with  plans  of  SCIEN- 
TIFIC MANAGEMENT.  Under  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  BONUS 
SYSTEM,  a  fixed  sum  is  usually  added  to  the  ordinary  time  rate  or 
piece  rate  as  a  reward  for  the  worker's  reaching  or  exceeding  a  given 
point  of  production.  Under  the  various  forms  of  the  premium  bonus 
system,  on  the  other  hand,  the  amount  of  the  bonus  or  reward  for 
special  effort  is  not  fixed,  but  varies  according  to  the  worker's  rate 
of  speed;  and  the  basis  of  the  system  is  always  a  standard  time 
allowance  in  which  the  job  is  supposed  to  be  done.  If  the  job  is  com- 
pleted in  less  than  the  standard  time  allowance,  the  worker  receives 
in  addition  to  payment  for  the  time  actually  worked  a  premium  or 
bonus  for  a  portion  of  the  time  saved.  Thus  in  its  simplest  form, 
known  as  the  HALSEY  PLAN,  if  the  standard  time  allowance  for  a  job 
is  ten  hours,  and  the  worker  does  the  job  in  six  hours,  payment  is 
made  for  six  hours,  and  in  addition  for  a  proportion  (very  often  a  half) 
of  the  four  hours  saved  in  the  job.  This  payment  is  at  the  standard 
hourly  rate.  Thus  under  the  premium  bonus  system,  the  standard 
time-rate  is  practically  always  guaranteed  to  every  worker.  Both 
the  standard  time  allowance  and  the  amount  of  the  bonus  are  de- 
termined by  painstaking  analysis.  These  factors,  and  others,  differ 
under  the  different  schemes  into  which  the  underlying  idea  of  the 
system  has  been  elaborated.  The  method  of  wage  payment  under 
the  premium  bonus  system  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  the  "progres- 
sive wage" ;  but  with  equal  propriety  it  might  also  be  called,  from  the 
employer's  point  of  view,  "progressive  profits,"  since,  while  the  earn- 
ings of  the  worker  increase  with  each  increase  of  output,  the  em- 
ployer's labor  cost  and  overhead  on  each  unit  of  output  usually 
fall  in  similar  or  greater  proportion.  (See  ROWAN  PLAN;  GANTT 
SYSTEM;  EMERSON  SYSTEM;  WEIR  PLAN;  THREE-RATE  SYSTEM  OF 
WAGE  PAYMENT;  EFFICIENCY  PAYMENTS;  REWARD  SYSTEMS.) 

President's  Industrial  Conferences.  In  the  latter  part  of 
1920  two  national  industrial  conferences  met  in  Washington,  by  call 
of  President  Wilson,  to  consider  remedies  for  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST. 
The  first  consisted  of  three  groups,  representing  employers  and 
farmers,  labor,  and  the  public,  respectively.  It  broke  up  through 
the  withdrawal  of  the  labor  group  after  the  other  groups  had  declined 
to  consider  the  existing  steel  strike,  and  after  COLLE.QT;Y?-  BARGAIN- 

[385] 


ING,  in  the  sense  of  direct  dealing  with  trade  unions,  had  been  re- 
jected by  the  employers'  representatives.  The  second  conference  was 
an  assemblage  of  industrial  experts  and  public  men.  It  met  in  pri- 
vate, and  as  a  result  of  its  deliberations  recommended  the  establish- 
ment of  a  national  industrial  tribunal  and  regional  boards  of  investi- 
gation and  adjustment,  whose  decision  was  not  to  be  binding  unless 
both  parties  to  an  industrial  dispute  consented  to  ARBITRATION. 
The  boards  could,  however,  undertake  investigation  of  any  dispute. 
No  action  has  yet  resulted  from  this  recommendation. 

President's  Mediation  Commission.  An  industrial  com- 
mission appointed  by  President  Wilson  in  the  summer  of  1917  to 
investigate  and  if  possible  to  adjust  certain  labor  controversies  in 
the  Southwest  and  Northwest  which  had  seriously  checked  the  out- 
put of  such  war  materials  as  copper,  lumber,  and  oil.  The  President 
designated  the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  as  chairman  of  this  Commission. 
After  several  months  of  constant  investigation  in  the  copper  districts 
of  Arizona,  the  oil  fields  of  California,  the  northwest  timber  dis- 
tricts, and  other  sections  where  industry  had  been  disturbed  by 
labor  unrest,  including  Chicago,  where  a  strike  in  the  meat-packing 
establishments  was  threatened,  the  Commission  transmitted  to  the 
President  a  report  which  summed  up  its  work  in  a  concise  description 
of  the  causes  of  labor  difficulties  in  the  United  States.  The  creation 
of  such  war-time  labor  agencies  as  the  NATIONAL  WAR  LABOR 
BOARD,  WAR  LABOR  POLICIES  BOARD,  and  WOMAN  IN  INDUSTRY 
SERVICE  was  largely  due  to  the  Mediation  Commission's  report. 
(See  MOONEY  CASE.) 

Pression  Exterieure.  See  DUAL  UNIONISM;  BORING  FROM 
WITHIN. 

Prevocational  Education.  Instruction  given  to  young  chil- 
dren who  will  later  be  obliged  to  enter  industry,  the  purpose  being 
"to  permit  them  to  sample  different  trade  conditions  and  experiences, 
so  that  they  can  make  an  intelligent  choice  of  occupation." 

Price  Adjuster.  An  official  appointed  and  paid  jointly  by 
the  trade  unions  and  the  employers  in  certain  industries  (notably 
the  New  York  cloak,  suit,  and  skirt  industry),  to  whom  disputes  over 
PIECE  WORK  rates  are  referred  and  who  has  authority  to  decide  such 
disputes. 

Price  Committee.  A  group  of  workers  who  represent  the 
employees  of  a  shop  or  industry  in  negotiations  with  employers  about 
PIECE  WORK  prices. 

[386] 


Price  Cutting  or  Rate  Cutting.  In  the  labor  movement, 
this  term  commonly  refers  to  an  employer's  reduction  in  the  PIECE 
WORK  wage  paid  on  a  particular  job  or  kind  of  work.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  piece  prices  are  cut  vary  considerably,  but  in  gen- 
eral may  be  differentiated  as  follows:  (i)  Where  the  job  remains 
unaltered,  but  it  is  contended  that  owing  to  error  the  original  price 
has  been  fixed  too  high;  (2)  where  the  job  remains  unaltered,  but  the 
worker  produces  more  rapidly  owing  to  familiarity  with  it  or  to 
the  presence  of  an  inducement  in  the  shape  of  a  bonus  or  reward; 
(3)  where  the  job  is  altered  in  such  a  way  as,  in  the  employer's  opinion, 
to  reduce  the  time  necessary  for  doing  it.  The  worker's  grievances 
in  connection  with  price  cutting  are  often  closely  associated  with 
those  arising  from  SPEEDING  UP.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  price 
cutting  is  itself  a  common  form  of  speeding  up.  Trade  union  rules 
in  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT  are  in  large  part  directed  against  this 
practice.  "  If  a  few  individuals  increase  their  speed,  their  pace  tends, 
it  is  declared,  to  become  the  standard  pace  in  the  trade.  If  the 
work  is  by  the  day,  there  is  no  tendency  to  a  corresponding  increase 
of  wages.  The  workmen  assert  that  the  case  is  nearly  the  same,  in 
the  long  run,  if  the  work  is  by  the  piece.  Under  piece  rates  there  is, 
of  course,  an  increase  of  daily  wages  at  first,  if  the  pace  is  increased. 
But  every  employer  has  in  his  mind  a  more  or  less  definite  standard 
of  just  wages  for  each  kind  of  service.  If  the  piece  workers  begin  to 
earn  more  than  he  considers  fair,  he  will  cut  down  the  piece  prices. 
In  the  end  the  men  will  work  harder  than  before,  and  will  get  no  more 
for  it.  Here,  therefore,  as  well  as  under  the  day- wage  system,  the 
STANDARD  RATE  is  best  maintained,  the  workmen  think,  by  keeping 
within  certain  standard  limits  of  performance." 

Price  List.  In  industries  or  industrial  operations  where  the 
PIECE  WORK  system  of  wage  payment  prevails,  this  is  a  detailed 
statement,  usually  in  printed  form  and  often  of  great  complexity, 
setting  forth  in  full  the  piece-work  price  to  be  paid  for  every  job 
regularly  executed  in  the  industry.  Such  lists  are  sometimes  estab- 
lished for  a  particular  works  and  sometimes  arrived  at  by  agreement 
between  the  unions  and  the  employers  for  a  whole  industry  or  a 
whole  district,  subject  in  many  cases  to  modifications  to  meet  the 
conditions  in  particular  works.  In  some  British  industries,  the  price 
list  is  called  the  "statement";  in  others  it  is  known  as  the  "list," 
sometimes  preceded  by  the  name  of  the  particular  craft  or  occupa- 
tion to  which  it  refers — e.g.,  "spinning  list,"  "weavers'  list,"  etc. 
In  the  clothing  trades  it  is  generally  known  as  the  "log,"  and 

[387] 


among  granite  cutters  as  the  "bill  of  prices."  Other  alternate 
general  titles  are  "piece  work  list,"  "wage  bill,"  and  "standard 
price  list."  (See  SCALE;  MUTUALITY.) 

Primary  Arbitration.    See  ARBITRATION. 
Primary  Boycott.    See  BOYCOTT. 
Primary  Poverty.    See  POVERTY. 
Printers'  Chapel.    See  CHAPEL. 

Printers'  Home.  See  CHILDS-DREXEL  HOME  FOR  UNION 
PRINTERS. 

Printing  Trades  Councils.  See  ALLIED  PRINTING  TRADES 
COUNCILS. 

Printing  Trades  International  Joint  Conference  Council. 

Formally  organized  at  Chicago  in  April,  1919,  by  four  leading  unions 
and  three  prominent  employers'  associations  in  the  allied  printing 
trades  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  The  chief  purpose  of  the 
Council  is  to  formulate  matters  of  national  trade  policy,  and  to 
strengthen  existing  organizations  on  both  sides  by  giving  sanction 
to  all  local  agreements  between  unions  and  employers,  after  they 
have  been  underwritten  by  their  respective  international  unions. 
The  Council  is  at  present  composed  of  sixteen  members,  eight  from 
each  side. 

Prison  Labor.  The  competition  of  "prison-made  goods" 
with  the  products  of  so-called  "free  labor"  has  long  been  a  serious 
concern  to  American  trade  unionists.  According  to  the  latter,  prison 
labor  is  a  menace  because  of  the  following  characteristics,  summarized 
by  Professor  Carlton :  "  (i)It  is  a  form  of  subsidized  labor;  the  prisoner 
must  be  fed,  clothed,  and  housed  whether  he  works  or  lives  in  idle- 
ness. (2)  The  labor  force  is  always  available;  it  cannot  strike,  nor 
can  an  individual  worker  withdraw  in  order  to  accept  another  job. 
(3)  Convict  labor  and  the  output  of  convict-made  goods  will  be  very 
slightly  affected  by  periods  of  depression  or  prosperity.  (4)  Convict 
labor  is  quite  similar  in  many  respects  to  slave  labor;  the  motives 
which  lead  to  industry  are  almost  identical."  The  evidence  in  regard 
to  prison  labor  taken  by  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL 
RELATIONS  is  the  basis  for  the  following  statements  in  the  Commis- 
sion's staff  report:  "(i)  The  practice  of  using  convicts  in  peniten- 
tiaries and  prisons  generally  for  the  manufacture  of  articles  for  gen- 
eral commerce  has  been  productive  of  evil  results  as  regards  not  only 

[388] 


the  convicts  but  the  general  public.  (2)  The  competition  of  prison- 
made  articles  has  resulted  in  the  existence  of  a  low  wage  scale  in  many 
industries  and  has  subjected  the  manufacturers  to  a  kind  of  com- 
petition which  should  not  exist  in  any  civilized  community.  (3) 
The  only  beneficiaries  of  the  convict  labor  system  are  the  contractors 
who  are  permitted  by  the  State  to  exploit  the  inmates  of  prisons. 
(4)  The  individual  States  are  powerless  to  deal  adequately  with  the 
situation  because  of  the  interstate  shipment  of  convict-made  goods. 
It  is  suggested  that  the  Commission  recommend:  (i)  The  aboli- 
tion as  far  as  possible  of  indoor  manufacture,  and  the  substitution 
of  such  outdoor  work  as  that  upon  State  farms  and  State  roads, 
providing  that  where  prisoners  are  employed  they  should  be  compen- 
sated and  that  the  products  which  they  manufacture  should  not  be 
sold  in  competition  with  the  products  of  free  labor.  (2)  The  enactment 
by  Congress  of  a  bill  providing  that  all  convict-made  goods  when 
transported  into  any  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  subject  to  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  such  State  or  Territory 
to  the  same  extent  and  in  the  same  manner  as  though  such  goods 
had  been  produced  therein."  Many  of  the  states  have  enacted  laws 
designed  to  restrain  or  restrict  the  competition  between  prison  labor 
and  free  labor  within  the  respective  jurisdictions  of  such  states. 
(See  CONVICT  LABOR  SYSTEMS.) 

Prison-Made  Goods.     See  PRISON  LABOR. 

Private  Employment  Bureaus.     See  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS. 

Private  Enterprise.  The  present  system  of  industrial  pro- 
duction for  the  profit  of  private  individuals;  as  opposed  to  the 
ownership  or  control  of  industry  by  the  State,  in  the  interest  of  society 
as  a  whole. 

Prize  Systems.     See  REWARD  SYSTEMS. 

Probation  System  in  Russian  Industry.  Under  the  Soviet 
labor  code,  before  any  person  is  permanently  engaged  he  must  under- 
go a  probation  period  of  one  week ;  in  nationalized  (State-conducted) 
establishments  the  probation  period  is  two  weeks  for  unskilled  labor 
and  one  month  for  skilled  labor.  If  any  employee  is  rejected  after 
probation  he  may  appeal  to  his  trade  union.  If  his  union  considers 
his  complaint  justified  it  may  enter  into  negotiations  with  his  em- 
ployer. Should  negotiations  fail,  the  matter  may  be  submitted  to 
the  local  office  of  the  PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT  OF  LABOR,  which  may 
order  the  appointment  of  the  complainant  to  a  permanent  position 
or  may  dismiss  his  complaint. 
26  [ 389  ] 


Probi-Viri.  Italian  industrial  courts  established  by  law  to 
deal  with  cases  (mainly  wage  disputes  between  individuals)  arising 
out  of  existing  labor  contracts.  They  correspond  to  the  French  CON- 
SEILS  DE  PRUD'HOMMES  and  the  German  GEWERBEGERICHTEN. 

Process  Work.  In  England,  a  common  designation  for  factory 
work  which  involves  a  series  of  specialized  mechanical  processes  or 
operations. 

Producers'  Cooperation.  As  distinguished  from  CONSUMERS' 
COOPERATION,  this  is  the  plan  whereby  factories,  farms,  dairies,  etc., 
are  established  or  acquired  by  the  workers  themselves,  for  their 
common  profit  and  benefit,  the  capitalist  and  employer  in  the  ordi- 
nary sense  being  eliminated.  The  essential  features  underlying  the 
various  forms  of  producers'  cooperation  have  been  thus  summarized : 
"(i)  Each  group  of  workers  is  to  be  associated  by  their  own  free 
choice;  (2)  these  associates  shall  work  under  a  leader  elected  and 
removable  by  themselves;  and  (3)  the  collective  remuneration  of 
the  labor  performed  by  the  group  shall  be  divided  among  all  its 
members  (including  this  leader)  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  be  arranged 
upon  principles  recognized  as  equitable,  by  the  associates  themselves." 
It  is  of  course  essential,  under  producers'  cooperation,  that  the  share 
capital  of  the  enterprise  shall  be  owned  by  the  workers.  As  a  general 
rule,  the  profits,  after  payment  of  interest  on  capital,  are  returned 
to  the  workers  as  a  dividend  on  wages  and  to  customers  (who  are 
largely  the  distributive  societies)  as  a  dividend  on  purchases.  There 
are  now  30,000  societies  throughout  the  world  engaged  in  this  form 
of  cooperation.  They  are  generally  known  as  "productive  societies" 
or  "copartnership  societies."  Producers'  cooperation  itself  is  some- 
times called  "industrial  cooperation. "  The  movement  is  strongest  in 
Great  Britain.  (See  SELF-EMPLOYMENT  ;  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT.) 

Product  Sharing.  A  name  sometimes  given  to  the  method  or 
plan  under  which  workers  are  recompensed,  not  in  wages,  but  with 
a  certain  share  or  proportion  of  the -product  of  their  labor.  Product 
sharing  is  now  mainly  confined  to  the  field  of  AGRICULTURAL  LABOR. 
(See  CROPPER.) 

Production  Manager.  A  technical  engineer  employed  in 
large-scale  industrial  operations  to  keep  the  processes  of  production 
up  to  a  point  of  maximum  efficiency.  He  differs  from  his  less  special- 
ized forerunner,  the  ENTREPRENEUR,  in  that  he  is  not  concerned 
primarily  with  the  maintenance  of  prices  or  profits.  Sometimes 
called  "efficiency  engineer."  (See  JOB  ANALYSIS.) 

[390] 


Production  Standards.  In  some  industries  or  industrial 
establishments  certain  definite  standards,  sometimes  calculated  with 
the  assistance  of  the  trade  union,  are  adopted  to  determine  the  normal 
output  of  workers  on  given  processes.  Such  standards  are  used  as  a 
basis  for  fixing  the  wage  in  TIME  WORK.  One  of  the  recent  demands 
of  the  New  York  Clothing  Manufacturers'  Association  upon  the 
Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers  of  America  was  as  follows:  "All 
workers  shall  individually  be  responsible  for  a  daily  standard  of 
production  to  be  agreed  on  and  calculated  upon  the  base  rates  pre- 
vailing in  other  competitive  markets;  and  that  in  the  event  of  the 
failure  of  any  worker  to  produce  such  standard  of  production,  the 
employer  shall  have  the  right  to  reduce  wages  pro  rata  or  discharge 
the  worker  substantially  under-producing."  Unless  determined  by 
COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  the  enforcement  of  production  standards 
usually  results  in  TASK  WORK.  (See  LABOR  NORM  ;  FAIR  DAY'S  WORK.) 

Productive  Societies.    See  PRODUCERS'  COOPERATION. 

Productivism.  The  theory  that  social  advance  is  dependent 
chiefly  upon  increased  industrial  output,  rather  than  upon  a  more 
equitable  distribution  of  the  existing  supply.  In  continental  labor 
circles  this  term  denotes  the  belief  that  labor  groups  must  concen- 
trate upon  a  mastery  of  industrial  processes,  to  the  end  that  a  labor 
or  socialist  regime  shall  produce  a  greater  amount  of  wealth  than  does 
CAPITALISM  at  present. 

Productivity  Theory  of  Wages.  The  breakdown  of  the  WAGE 
FUND  THEORY  has  forced  economists  to  fall  back  upon  a  conception 
of  general  wages  which  is  commonly  known  as  the  "productivity 
theory."  At  the  base  of  this  doctrine  is  the  fact  (noted  in  the  entry 
on  WAGES)  that  high  wages  do  not  necessarily  mean  high  labor  cost. 
"A  worker  who  is  efficient  at  his  work  will  get  high  wages,  because 
the  product  of  his  work  will  be  great;  anything  that  increases  the 
efficiency  of  the  worker  will,  by  making  him  more  productive,  tend 
to  increase  his  wages."  Thus,  competition  secures  for  the  worker, 
in  the  form  of  wages,  just  what  he  produces.  In  Professor  Hadley's 
phrase,  wages  are  "the  discounted  product  of  industry,"  ie.,  the 
value  of  the  product  less  interest  on  the  wages  from  the  time  they 
are  paid  to  the  time  when  the  employer  receives  the  price  of  the  prod- 
uct. Professor  Clark  summarizes  the  productivity  theory  as  follows: 
"As  real  as  gravitation  is  the  force  that  draws  the  actual  pay  of  men 
toward  a  standard  that  is  set  by  the  final  productivity  law.  This 
law  is  universal  and  permanent :  everywhere  it  will  outlive  the  local 


and  changeful  influences  that  modify  its  operation.  We  are  to  get 
what  we  produce — such  is  the  dominant  rule  of  life;  and  what  we 
are  able  to  produce  by  means  of  labor,  is  determined  by  what  a  final 
unit  of  mere  labor  can  add  to  the  product  that  can  be  created  without 
its  aid.  Final  productivity  governs  wages."  One  of  the  several 
elaborations  of  this  general  theory  is  commonly  known  as  "economic 
worth" — this  phrase  being,  according  to  Professor  Clay,  "merely  a 
misleading  synonym  for  'productivity  of  market  value.'"  (See 
EXCHANGE  THEORY  OF  WAGES.) 

Professional  Alliances.     See  TRADE  UNIONS  IN  RUSSIA. 
Professional  Risk.    See  TRADE  RISK  PRINCIPLE. 
Professorial  Socialism.     See  SOCIALISTS  OP  THE  CHAIR. 

Profit  Sharing.  This  term  was  defined  by  the  International 
Cooperative  Congress,  held  in  Paris  in  1889,  as  "an  agreement 
freely  entered  into  by  which  the  employees  receive  a  share,  fixed  in 
advance,  of  the  profits."  The  same  congress  defined  the  term  "agree- 
ment" as  covering  "not  only  agreements  binding  in  law,  but  as  in- 
cluding also  cases  where  the  agreement  is  only  a  moral  obligation, 
provided  it  is  honorably  carried  out."  The  term  "profit"  is  defined 
as  "the  actual  net  balance  or  gain  realized  by  the  operations  of  the 
undertaking."  A  "share"  is  stated  to  be  "a  sum  paid  to  the  employee 
out  of  the  profits."  The  share  given  to  the  employee  "shall  not  be 
indeterminate";  that  is,  "it  must  not  be  a  share  which  an  employer 
fixes,  at  the  end  of  some  period,  at  his  absolute  discretion,  as  distin- 
guished from  a  prearranged  basis."  The  production  of  the  total 
working  force  of  a  concern  that  must  share  in  the  profits  in  order  to 
establish  real  profit-sharing  conditions  was  stated  to  be  "not  less  than 
75  per  cent."  The  three  methods  of  profit  sharing  most  commonly 
followed  are:  (i)  Cash  payments,  at  the  end  of  a  fixed  period;  (2) 
DEFERRED  PARTICIPATION  by  means  of  a  savings  bank  deposit,  bene- 
fit funds,  or  annuity;  and  (3)  payment  in  shares  of  stock  of  the  em- 
ploying corporation.  Within  these  three  forms,  however,  there  are 
almost  innumerable  differences  of  detailed  application  in  different 
establishments.  Profit  sharing,  in  the  genuine  sense,  must  be  clearly 
distinguished  from  all  schemes  under  which  individual  or  collective 
bonuses  are  paid  for  increased  production  or  lower  production  costs, 
irrespective  of  the  rate  of  profit  realized  by  the  employer  and  also 
from  all  so-called  "profit  sharing"  plans  the  benefits  of  which  are 
confined  to  a  selected  few  of  the  better-paid  executive  or  supervisory 
employees.  Trade  unionists  are,  in  the  main,  distinctly  hostile  to 

[392] 


all  forms  of  profit  sharing.  As  Professor  W.  J.  Ashley  has  said, 
"profit-sharing  and  Trade  Unionism  rest  on  two  mutually  exclusive 
principles  and  involve  two  incompatible  policies.  Profit-sharing 
assumes  a  community  of  interest  between  employer  and  employed 
in  each  particular  business,  Trade  Unionism  between  all  the  workmen 
in  the  trade  against  all  the  employers  in  the  trade."  It  is  a  not 
uncommon  practice  among  employers  to  make  non-membership  in 
a  trade  union  a  condition  of  employees'  participation  in  profit 
sharing  schemes.  (See  GAIN  SHARING;  CAPITAL  SHARING;  INDUS- 
TRIAL PARTNERSHIP;  LABOR  COPARTNERSHIP;  COOPERATION.) 

Profits  System.  A  name  often  given  to  the  present  economic 
organization  of  society,  which  has  for  its  primary  end  the  securing 
of  monetary  gain  for  the  private  owners  of  the  means  of  production 
and  distribution.  The  principal  aim  of  SOCIALISM  is  to  abolish  the 
profits  system,  and  to  make  public  service  rather  than  private 
profit  the  chief  incentive  in  the  economic  arrangements  of  society. 
(See  CAPITALISM;  ABSENTEE  CAPITALISM;  EXPLOITATION;  WAGE 
SLAVERY;  COMPETITIVE  SYSTEM.) 

Progression  within  the  Trade.  See  RESTRICTION  OF  NUM- 
BERS; SENIORITY. 

Progressive  Wage.    See  PREMIUM  BONUS  SYSTEM. 

Prohibited  Employments.  Those  which  are  forbidden  by 
law  to  women  or  children  or,  usually  under  certain  individual  dis- 
tinctions, to  men.  The  purpose  of  such  prohibition  is  to  safeguard 
life,  limb,  health,  or  morals,  and  it  is  based  on  considerations  of  age, 
sex,  physique,  and  education.  In  European  countries,  as  a  rule,  the 
list  of  legally  prohibited  employments  is  much  more  inclusive  than 
in  the  United  States. 

Proletarian.    See  PROLETARIAT. 

Proletariat  or  Proletariate.  Derived  from  the  Latin  word 
proles,  meaning  "offspring"  or  "progeny,"  this  word  in  its  original 
Latin  form  denoted  the  lowest  or  poorest  class  of  citizens — according 
to  some  authorities,  those  who  served  the  State  not  with  property 
but  with  offspring.  In  present-day  usage,  the  term  is  used  in  desig- 
nation of  the  propertyless  wage-earning  class  as  a  whole — those  who 
are  solely  dependent  upon  daily  employment,  who  do  not  own  the 
tools  or  materials  with  which  they  work,  and  who  have  no  security 
against  the  future.  A  single  member  of  the  proletariat  is  a  "prole- 
tarian," which  is  also  the  adjective  form.  (See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM  ; 

[393] 


SALARIAT;  INTELLECTUAL  PROLETARIAT;  PROPERTARIAT ;  BOUR- 
GEOISIE; MIDDLE  CLASS;  CLASS  STRUGGLE;  DICTATORSHIP  OF  THE 
PROLETARIAT;  COMMUNIST  MANIFESTO;  CONCENTRATION  OF  CAPITAL 
THEORY.) 

Propertariat.  A  term  sometimes  used,  as  an  antithesis  to 
PROLETARIAT,  to  designate  the  affluent  or  propertied  classes  of  a 
community.  (See  BOURGEOISIE.) 

Protective  Chairman.    See  SHOP  CHAIRMAN. 
Protective  Fund.    See  STRIKE  FUND. 

Protocol.  After  a  severe  strike  in  the  cloak,  suit,  and  skirt 
industry  of  New  York  City  in  1910,  a  so-called  "protocol"  or  treaty 
of  peace  was  made  between  the  Cloak,  Suit,  and  Skirt  Manufacturers' 
Protective  Association,  on  the  one  hand,  and  various  local  unions  of 
the  International  Ladies'  Garment  Workers'  Union,  acting  with 
the  advice  and  assistance  of  the  national  officers,  on  the  other. 
This  arrangement  provided  for  various  matters  in  controversy,  as 
well  as  for  a  MINIMUM  WAGE  scale,  a  fifty-hour  working  week,  a  joint 
board  of  sanitary  control,  the  PREFERENTIAL  SHOP,  and  a  plan  for 
adjusting  future  disputes  by  means  of  a  Board  of  Grievances  and  a 
Board  of  Arbitration,  with  equal  representation  in  each  case  for  both 
manufacturers  and  employees.  Both  sides  bound  themselves  to 
accept  the  awards  of  these  boards.  The  Board  of  Grievances  was 
composed  at  first  of  four  members,  later  increased  to  ten,  an  equal 
number  from  each  side.  In  cases  of  deadlock  the  dispute  was  to  be 
referred  to  a  Board  of  Arbitration,  consisting  of  three  members,  one 
representing  each  party  and  one — the  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN — 
chosen  by  the  other  two  or,  in  case  of  their  failure  to  agree,  by  the 
governor  of  the  state.  After  some  experimenting,  the  following  pro- 
cedure was  established:  Any  individual  having  cause  for  dissatis- 
faction might  appeal  to  the  Board  of  Grievances.  A  clerk  of  this 
Board  first  took  up  the  matter,  and  adjusted  it,  if  possible,  in  accord- 
ance with  established  procedure.  If  this  failed  the  matter  was  con- 
sidered by  the  Board  of  Grievances.  In  case  there  was  a  tie  vote  or 
no  decision  reached,  the  matter  went  to  the  Board  of  Arbitration 
and  its  decision  was  final,  as  both  parties  to  the  protoco.  were  bound 
by  it.  In  practical  operation  the  protocol  was  for  a  time  very  suc- 
cessful, and  its  essential  features  were  widely  copied  in  other  TRADE 
AGREEMENTS.  But  in  1915  new  difficulties  arose,  and  the  protocol 
was  superseded  by  a  new  agreement  on  somewhat  different  lines. 

[394] 


Provident  Benefits.  This  term  is  used  in  Great  Britain  in 
general  designation  of  any  payment  made  by  a  trade  union  to  a  mem- 
ber during  any  sickness  or  incapacity  or  while  out  of  work,  or  to  an 
aged  member,  or  to  a  member  who  has  met  with  an  accident  or  lost 
his  tools  by  fire  or  theft,  or  to  a  member  in  discharge  of  funeral 
expenses,  or  to  the  children  of  a  deceased  member. 

Provisional  Members.     See  MEMBERS  AT  LARGE. 
Provocateur.     See  AGENT  PROVOCATEUR. 

Public  Account  System  of  Convict  Labor.  Under  this 
system  penal  or  reformatory  institutions  carry  on  the  business  of 
manufacturing,  or  other  industries,  like  private  individuals  or  firms, 
buying  raw  materials  and  converting  them  into  manufactured  prod- 
ucts, or  producing  agricultural  crops,  which  are  sold  in  the  best 
available  market,  the  entire  proceeds  and  profits  accruing  to  the 
State,  its  political  subdivisions  or  institutions.  (See  CONVICT 
LABOR  SYSTEMS;  PRISON  LABOR;  REGIE.) 

Public  Employment  Bureaus.     See  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS. 
Public  Ownership.     See  NATIONALIZATION. 

Public  Works  and  Ways  System  of  Convict  Labor.  Under 
this  system  the  labor  of  convicts  is  utilized  in  the  construction  or 
repair  of  public  roads,  bridges,  buildings,  and  other  public  improve- 
ments. (See  CONVICT  LABOR  SYSTEMS;  PRISON  LABOR.) 

Pullman  Strike.     See  DEBS  CASE. 
Punitive  Overtime.     See  OVERTIME. 

Pure  and  Simple  Unionism.  CRAFT  UNIONISM,  particularly 
of  the  functional  type  known  as  BUSINESS  UNIONISM,  is  often  so 
called.  The  phrase  is  said  to  have  been  first  used  by  Samuel  Gompers, 
in  designation  of  the  form  of  trade  unionism  prevailing  within  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  It  was  quickly  taken  up  by  the 
I.  W.  W.  and  other  revolutionary  unionists,  and  applied  in  a  derisive 
sense— as  for  example  in  dubbing  the  A.  F.  of  L.  "pure  and  simple- 
dom,"  or  in  referring  to  craft  unionists  as  "pure  and  simples,"  "pure 
and  simplers,"  etc. 

Pushers.     See  SPEEDING  UP. 


R 


Radical,  Radicalism.  From  the  Latin  radix,  meaning  "root"; 
hence  "pertaining  to  the  root  or  foundation  of  the  subject;  concerned 
with  or  based  upon  fundamental  principles;  thoroughgoing,  extreme." 
In  any  sane  and  accurate  sense  a  radical,  whether  within  or  without 
the  labor  movement,  is  simply  one  who  believes  in  political,  social, 
or  economic  reforms  that  strike  at  the  root  of  an  evil  rather  than  at 
its  surface  aspects ;  while  radicalism  is  the  general  attitude  or  philoso- 
phy based  on  such  a  belief.  The  common  tendency,  so  sedulously 
fostered  by  reactionary  public  officials  in  every  country,  to  associate 
the  terms  "radical  "and  "radicalism"  exclusively  with  ideas  of  work- 
ing-class violence  and  lawlessness,  regardless  of  the  actual  meaning 
of  the  terms,  is  no  less  absurd  and  unwarranted  than  would  be  a 
similar  tendency  to  associate  "conservative"  and  "conservatism" 
exclusively  with  ideas  of  capitalistic  or  governmental  violence  and 
lawlessness.  (See  INTRANSIGENTS;  LEFT.) 

Raiffeisen  Banks.  As  initiated  by  Friedrich  Raiffeisen  of 
Germany  in  1849,  these  institutions  now  represent  one  of  the  two 
main  types  of  CREDIT  UNIONS  which  flourish  in  all  European  countries. 
Under  the  Raiffeisen  plan,  the  people  of  a  small  area  borrow  money 
on  their  joint  responsibility,  and  loan  it  out  among  themselves  for 
certain  specified  purposes  (usually  agricultural  improvements)  at 
a  slightly  higher  rate  of  interest  than  is  paid  on  the  collective  loan. 
The  banks  do  not  work  for  profit,  and  are  conducted  by  unpaid 
directors.  (See  CREDIT  COOPERATION;  SCHULZE-DELITZSCH  BANKS.) 

Railroad  Boards  of  Labor  Adjustment.  During  the  period 
of  Federal  control  of  the  railways,  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
establishment  of  "railroad  boards  of  labor  adjustment"  to  deal  with 
such  minor  controversies  growing  out  of  the  interpretation  or  appli- 
cation of  agreements  as  were  not  promptly  adjusted  by  the  officials 
and  the  employees  on  any  of  the  railroads  under  Federal  control. 
Three  such  boards  were  established  during  1918  by  former  Director- 
General  McAdoo,  consisting  on  the  one  hand  of  representatives  of 

[396] 


the  railway  managements  and  on  the  other  of  representatives  of  the 
"big  four"  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS  (Board  No.  i),  the  shop  workers 
(Board  No.  2),  and  the  maintenance-of-way  men,  telegraphers, 
switchmen,  and  clerks  (Board  No.  3).  The  Federal  Transportation 
Act  allowed  for  the  continuance  of  these  boards,  as  a  part  of  the 
machinery  for  CONCILIATION  and  ARBITRATION  in  the  railway  industry. 
They  were,  however,  dissolved  by  Director-General  Payne  in  Dec- 
ember, 1920.  (See  RAILROAD  LABOR  BOARD.) 

Railroad  Bull.    See  BULL  SYSTEM. 

Railroad  Labor  Board.  As  created  by  the  Federal  Transpor- 
tation Act  of  1920,  this  is  a  permanent  salaried  body  of  nine  members, 
including  three  representatives  of  the  railroad  managements,  three 
of  railway  employees,  and  three  of  "the  public."  The  Board  is  em- 
powered to  hear  and  decide  disputes  involving  wages,  grievances, 
rules,  or  working  conditions,  which  have  failed  of  settlement  by  a 
RAILROAD  BOARD  OF  LABOR  ADJUSTMENT  or  by  mutual  agreement 
between  the  contending  parties.  It  may,  on  petition  of  either 
party  to  a  dispute,  or  on  its  own  motion  in  serious  cases,  fix  "just 
and  reasonable"  rates  of  wages  and  standards  of  working  conditions, 
the  same  to  be  made  a  matter  of  record  and  to  be  published.  De- 
cisions of  the  Board  require  the  concurrence  of  at  least  five  of  the  nine 
members;  and  in  cases  of  decisions  regarding  wages  or  salaries,  at 
least  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  public  must  concur  in  the 
decision.  Broad  powers  are  vested  in  the  Board  with  respect  to  com- 
pelling the  attendance  of  witnesses,  the  production  of  books  and 
documents,  etc.,  but  no  penalty  is  specifically  provided  for  the  vio- 
lation of  its  decisions.  The  Board  is  required  to  maintain  permanent 
central  headquarters  in  Chicago.  (See  NATIONAL  AGREEMENTS 
IN  THE  RAILWAY  INDUSTRY.) 

Railway  Boycott.  As  commonly  understood,  this  consists  in 
the  refusal  of  railway  employees  to  handle  certain  classes  of  cars — 
as  for  example,  those  coming  from  a  railway  on  which  there  is  a 
strike.  This  form  of  BOYCOTT  is  peculiar  in  its  character,  inasmuch 
as  it  involves  usually  only  concerted  action  by  the  workingmen 
themselves,  without  attempt  to  influence  the  public  to  refuse  patron- 
age. Again,  the  boycott  is  effected  often  by  means  of  a  strike,  by 
quitting  employment,  in  order  to  avoid  handling  cars.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  railway  boycott  conducted  in  this  way  is  even  more  effective 
than  one  which  consists  merely  in  refusal  of  patronage.  If  the  cars 
of  a  railway  company  can  not  be  hauled  at  all,  because  of  the  refusal 

[397] 


of  the  employees,  the  willingness  of  the  public  to  patronize  the  rail- 
road is  a  matter  of  no  significance.    (See  MANDATORY  INJUNCTION.) 

Railway  Brotherhoods.  There  are  sixteen  "recognized" 
national  or  international  organizations  of  railway  workers  in  the 
United  States;  and  of  these,  eleven  use  the  word  "brotherhood" 
in  their  titles.  The  organizations  of  a  majority  of  the  so-called 
"shop  workers"  (machinists,  etc.)  and  of  the  clerks,  freight- 
handlers,  switchmen,  etc.,  are  affiliated  with  the  AMERICAN  FEDER- 
ATION OF  LABOR  and  with  the  RAILWAY  EMPLOYEES'  DEPARTMENT 
of  the  Federation.  The  term  "railway  brotherhoods,"  however, 
is  most  commonly  used  in  designation  of  the  four  principal  organiza- 
tions of  railway  workers — the  Grand  International  Brotherhood  of 
Locomotive  Engineers  (originally  the  "Brotherhood  of  the  Foot- 
board"), the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  and  Enginemen, 
the  Order  of  Railway  Conductors,  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad 
Trainmen  (originally  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen), 
known  popularly  as  the  "Big  Four"  and  having  a  combined  member- 
ship of  about  half  a  million.  These  organizations  came  into  existence 
as  benevolent  associations  formed  by  the  workers  to  protect  them- 
selves and  their  families,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  securing  insur- 
ance in  the  regular  insurance  companies  on  account  of  the  special 
hazards  of  their  work.  This  insurance  feature  has  developed  into 
an  immense  business,  and  most  of  the  brotherhoods  have  accumu- 
lated huge  funds.  The  insurance  or  benefit  departments  are  usually 
separately  organized,  although  membership  in  such  a  department  is 
compulsory  for  all  members  of  the  brotherhood.  The  structure  and 
administrative  machinery  of  the  brotherhoods  are  too  elaborate, 
and  differ  too  widely  in  detail  among  the  various  organizations, 
to  permit  of  intelligible  summary  here.  In  the  matter  of  organization, 
nomenclature)  and  ritual,  several  of  them  still  retain  the  character 
of  fraternal  orders.  A  joint  body,  representative  of  the  sixteen 
unions  and  known  as  the  "Associated  Standard  Recognized  Rail- 
road Labor  Organizations,"  has  been  formed  for  dealing  with  ques- 
tions of  national  scope.  The  "Big  Four"  also  cooperate  in  joint 
action  of  various  sorts — as  for  example,  in  a  "Joint  National  Legis- 
lative Board,"  maintained  for  "utilizing  the  combined  influence" 
and  "insuring  harmonious  action"  in  the  matter  of  public  legislation. 
Composed  as  they  are  of  skilled  and  relatively  well-paid  wage-earners 
employed  by  quasi-public  corporations,  and  working  under  definite 
and  standardized  scales  of  wages,  the  "Big  Four"  brotherhoods 
represent  the  conservative  aristocracy  of  the  labor  world,  and  their 

[398] 


members  have  been  for  the  most  part  little  troubled  by  the  dangers 
and  difficulties  that  confront  other  classes  of  wage-earners.  (See 
JOINT  CONFERENCE  SYSTEM  IN  THE  RAILWAY  INDUSTRY;  BROTHER- 
HOOD COOPERATIONS;  CEDAR  RAPIDS  PLAN;  SYSTEM  FEDERATIONS; 
BUSINESS  UNIONISM;  COLOR  LINE  IN  TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

Railway  Cooperations.    See  BROTHERHOOD  COOPERATIONS. 

Railway  Employees'  Department  of  the  American  Feder- 
ation of  Labor.  Organized  1908,  and  consisting  of  such  national, 
international,  and  brotherhood  organizations  of  railway  workers  as 
are  affiliated  with  and  chartered  by  the  A.  F.  of  L.  The  Department 
consists  of  two  sections:  (i)  Mechanical,  comprising  the  organiza- 
tions of  machinists,  blacksmiths,  boilermakers,  railway  carmen, 
sheet  metal  workers,  and  electrical  workers — the  so-called  "shop 
crafts";  and  (2)  Transportation,  consisting  of  railway  and  steam- 
ship clerks,  freight  handlers,  express  and  station  employees,  and 
switchmen.  Each  section  has  complete  autonomy  and  jurisdiction 
over  its  membership,  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  Department.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  Department  is  separated  into  five  "divisions," 
four  of  which  comprise  the  various  railway  systems  lying  within 
different  specified  geographical  areas,  while  the  fifth  comprises  all 
locomotive  and  car  equipment  plants  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  Each  division,  through  its  "Federated  Board,"  makes 
separate  agreements  as  to  wages,  working  conditions,  etc.,  with  the 
railway  managers  of  the  same  division — subject  to  the  laws  of  the 
Department.  Strikes  upon  any  division  may  not  be  ordered  without 
the  Department's  approval.  (See  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
FEDERATION  OF  LABOR;  SYSTEM  FEDERATIONS.) 

Railway  Relief  Departments.    See  ESTABLISHMENT  FUND. 

Railway  Schools.  As  found  in  most  European  countries  and 
less  commonly  in  the  United  States,  these  are  special  establishments 
for  the  technical  education  of  young  persons  preparing  to  enter  some 
particular  branch  of  railway  work.  They  are  conducted  either  by 
individual  railway  companies  or  (occasionally)  by  the  government. 

Rand  School  of  Social  Science.  An  institution  for  WORKING- 
CLASS  EDUCATION  along  the  lines  of  Marxian  socialism,  established 
in  New  York  City  in  1906,  under  an  endowment  made  by  the  late 
Mrs.  Carrie  A.  Rand.  The  school  is  owned  and  controlled  by  a 
membership  corporation,  the  American  Socialist  Society,  and  its 
primary  function  is  that  of  "offering  the  general  public  facilities  for 

[399] 


the  study  of  socialism  and  related  subjects,  and  giving  socialists 
instruction  and  training  calculated  to  make  them  efficient  workers 
for  the  socialist  and  labor  movement."  The  courses  of  instruction 
include  the  training  course,  courses  for  general  classes,  and  various 
correspondence  courses.  A  summer  school  started  as  an  experiment 
in  1918  has  become  a  permanent  activity  of  the  school.  The  depart- 
ment of  research  has  conducted  investigations  into  labor  conditions, 
has  published  pamphlets  on  various  subjects,  and  brings  out  annually 
the  "American  Labor  Year  Book."  A  large  collection  of  reference 
material  and  adequate  library  equipment  afford  facilities  for  study 
and  research  work  along  economic  and  socialistic  lines.  Social  and 
cultural  features  are  furnished  through  an  athletic  association,  a 
students'  league,  a  society  for  music  and  drama,  and  an  orchestra. 
The  school  also  maintains  a  bookstore. 

Rank  and  File  Movement.  A  phrase  often  used  in  designa- 
tion of  the  increasing  tendency  among  trade  unionists  to  break 
away  from  the  centralized  control  of  their  national  officers.  It  is 
exemplified,  in  one  phase,  by  the  SHOP  STEWARD  MOVEMENT  in  Eng- 
land; and,  on  another  side,  by  the  numerous  "outlaw"  or  INDE- 
PENDENT STRIKES  of  the  past  two  or  three  years  in  the  United  States. 

Rat.  In  the  printing  trade,  an  epithet  often  applied  by  union- 
ists to  a  non-union  worker,  or  to  one  who  accepts  lower  wages  than 
those  current  at  the  time  and  place  or  required  by  an  authorized 
scale,  or  who  takes  the  place  of  a  worker  on  strike  or  refuses  to  join 
in  an  authorized  strike.  The  doing  of  any  of  these  things  is  called 
' '  ratting ' ' ;  one  who  has  done  them  is  said  to  have  ' '  ratted. ' '  Among 
printers  the  term  "rat"  usually  carries  the  same  implications  of  dis- 
honor or  disloyalty  that  attach  to  SCAB  and  BLACKLEG  in  other 
crafts.  A  non-union  printing  office  is  known  among  unionists  as  a 
"rat  hole"  or  "rat  shop." 

Rat  Shop  or  Rat  Hole.    See  RAT. 
Rate  and  a  Half.    See  TIME  AND  A  HALF. 
Rate  Cutting.    See  PRICE  CUTTING. 
Rate  Fixer.    See  TIME  STUDY. 

Rating  Scale.  An  American  army  system  for  testing  the 
capacity  and  fitness  of  officers  for  promotion,  which  is  now  being 
adopted  to  some  extent  in  the  selection  of  foremen,  etc.,  in  industry. 
It  consists,  roughly,  in  the  comparison  of  certain  specified  qualities 

[400] 


in  the  person  to  be  rated  with  similar  qualities  in  several  other  per- 
sons occupying  the  class  of  position  to  which  promotion  is  being  con- 
sidered, and  reducing  the  comparison  to  a  numerical  expression. 
The  term  "rating  scale"  is  also  sometimes  applied  to  a  scale  of  wages 
under  the  GRADING  SYSTEM,  the  workers  being  rated  or  graded  ac- 
cording to  individual  ability. 

Rattening.  In  England,  the  secret  damaging  or  abstracting 
of  a  worker's  tools,  clothes,  or  other  property, — often  for  failure  to 
observe  trade  union  rules  or  to  keep  up  the  payment  of  union  dues. 
The  loss  is  sometimes  ironically  attributed  to  rats — hence  the 
derivation  of  the  term.  "Rattening"  is  one  of  the  early  forms  of 
SABOTAGE — though  directed  against  fellow-laborers  rather  than 
employers.  (See  TRADE  DISPUTES  ACT.) 

Ratting.    See  RAT. 

Reactionary.  One  who,  whether  within  or  without  the  labor 
movement,  holds  stubbornly  and  persistently  to  ideas  and  methods 
of  the  past,  who  opposes  economic,  social,  and  political  innovations, 
and  usually  favors  coercive  measures  against  the  innovators;  an  ex- 
treme CONSERVATIVE.  The  terms  "tory,"  "standpatter,"  and 
"bourbon"  usually  carry  much  the  same  connotations. 

Real  Wages.    See  WAGES. 

Recognition.  In  labor  affairs,  this  term  generally  denotes 
the  formal  acknowledgment  and  acceptance,  on  the  part  of  an  em- 
ployer or  a  group  of  employers,  of  the  right  of  a  particular  trade 
union  to  negotiate  for  and  otherwise  act  in  regard  to  the  interests  of 
its  individual  members.  ' '  The  first  step  in  the  strategy  of  COLLECTI  VE 
BARGAINING  is  recognition  of  the  union,  that  is,  recognition  by  the 
employer  of  the  representatives  of  the  union  by  consenting  to  confer 
with  them.  How  important  this  preliminary  step  is  considered  by 
both  sides  is  shown  by  the  meaning  which  they  give  to  the  term 
'recognition.'  To  'recognize  a  union*  is  considered  to  be  not  merely 
to  hold  a  conference  with  its  agents,  but  also  to  investigate  grievances 
and  demands,  to  negotiate  concerning  the  terms  of  a  collective  agree- 
ment, and  even  to  employ  union  men  on  terms  consented  to  by  the 
union.  Strictly  speaking,  these  are  not  'recognition,'  but  are  steps 
in  collective  bargaining  that  follow  recognition.  Recognition  in  the 
ordinary  use  of  the  term  (the  one  here  used)  would  be  merely  a  con- 
ference in  which  the  employer  meets  certain  individuals,  not  as  in- 
dividuals but  as  recognized  agents  of  the  union  authorized  to  speak 

[401] 


on  behalf  of  his  employees.  But  it  is  so  well  understood  that  recog- 
nition, even  in  this  limited  sense,  will  be  followed  by  other  steps, 
that  the  decisive  battle  is  often  fought  out  at  this  point."  In  another 
sense,  the  term  "recognition"  often  denotes  the  acknowledgment 
and  acceptance,  on  the  part  of  individual  unionists  or  groups  of 
unionists,  of  the  authority  and  jurisdiction  over  their  actions  of  a 
particular  trade  union  or  group  of  unions.  Recognition,  in  either  of 
the  above-described  senses,  may  be  called  the  corner-stone  of  trade 
unionism;  as  without  it,  both  collective  bargaining  and  efficient 
organization  are  impossible. 

Recruiting  Unions.  See  FEDERAL  LABOR  UNION  ;  MIXED  LOCAL. 

Red.  As  symbolic  of  the  common  life-blood  of  humanity,  red 
has  always  been  the  official  color  of  the  socialist  and  communist 
movements  in  all  countries.  In  common  current  usage,  anything 
socialistic  or,  revolutionary,  more  specifically  anything  associated 
with  present-day  Russia,  is  characterized  as  "red" — for  example, 
"red  terror,"  "red  army,"  "red  Internationale,"  etc.;  while  anyone 
holding  radical  social  views  is  commonly  dubbed  a  "red."  The 
legitimate  and  the  propaganda  uses  of  the  word  should  of  course  be 
carefully  differentiated.  (See  RED  UNION.) 

Red  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONALE  ;  COMMUNIST  INTER- 
NATIONALE. 

Red  Necks.  A  term  of  contempt  sometimes  applied  to  strikers 
and  their  sympathizers.  It  seems  to  have  come  into  use  during  the 
Colorado  coal  strike  of  1914. 

Red  Trade  Union  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL 
COUNCIL  OP  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS. 

Red  Union.  In  the  European  labor  movement,  particularly 
in  France,  this  term  is  commonly  applied  to  those  labor  organizations 
that  are  devoted  to  revolutionary  policies  and  ends — as  distinguished 
from  the  conservative  or  YELLOW  UNIONS.  (See  SYNDICAT;  FRENCH 
LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Referendum.    See  INITIATIVE  AND  REFERENDUM. 

Reformist.  In  the  European  labor  movement,  this  term  is 
used  in  designation  of  conservative  socialistic  policies,  methods, 
parties,  individuals,  etc.  In  general,  it  denotes  the  opposite  of 
"revolutionary."  (See  RIGHT.) 

[402] 


Regie.  The  name  given  to  a  system  of  CONVICT  LABOR  adopted 
in  some  parts  of  Germany.  It  corresponds  in  general  to  what  is  known 
in  America  as  the  PUBLIC  ACCOUNT  SYSTEM. 

Regional  Economic  Councils.  Russian  bodies,  ten  in  num- 
ber, consisting  of  delegates  from  all  the  WORKS  COMMITTEES,  local 
trade  unions,  and  local  Soviets  in  all  the  industries  of  a  specific 
region.  They  help  in  the  adjustment  of  labor  disputes,  appoint 
managers  in  the  nationalized  factories  and  other  industrial  plants, 
and  perform  various  other  functions.  Each  regional  economic 
council  has  two  representatives  in  the  SUPREME  COUNCIL  OF  PUBLIC 
ECONOMY. 

Registry  System.  As  commonly  used  among  trade  unionists, 
this  term  refers  to  the  plan  under  which  union  members  losing  their 
employment  must  immediately,  and  daily  while  they  are  out  of  work, 
sign  their  names  in  a  book  provided  for  that  purpose  by  the  local 
union.  This  book  (called  the  "vacant  book"  in  many  unions  and 
the  "waiting  list"  in  others)  serves  not  only  to  facilitate  the  finding 
of  situations  for  unemployed  members,  but  also  as  a  receipt  for  OUT- 
OF-WORK  BENEFITS  paid  to  members. 

Regular  Unionism  or  Regular  Labor.  In  America,  that  part 
of  the  organized  labor  movement  which  is  represented  by  the  AMERI- 
CAN FEDERATION  OF  LABOR;  as  distinguished  from  political  labor 
parties,  SECESSIONISTS,  OUTLAWS,  and  such  radical  labor  bodies  as 
the  INTERNATIONAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Regularization  of  Industry.  As  a  measure  in  relief  of 
UNEMPLOYMENT,  this  denotes  the  combined  effort  of  employers, 
employees,  and  the  consuming  public  to  make  every  industrial  job 
a  steady  job  by  equalizing  and  stabilizing  in  every  way  possible  the 
various  factors  under  their  separate  control.  By  way  of  specific 
example,  employers  might  spread  production  evenly  throughout  the 
year,  instead  of  producing  at  "peak"  capacity  for  a  few  months  and 
then  shutting  down  to  await  another  accumulation  of  orders.  The 
workers  might,  on  their  part,  waive  certain  trade  union  rules  of  a 
selfishly  exclusive  nature;  while  the  consumers  might  endeavor  to 
substitute  a  continuous  demand  for  the  present  seasonal  and  sporadic 
demands  that  prevail  in  many  industries. 

Rehabilitation.     See  VOCATIONAL  REHABILITATION. 

Reichsarbeiterrat  (National  Workers'  Council).  See  GERMAN 
WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW. 

[403] 


Reichskohlenrat  (National  Coal  Council).  Under  a  law  enacted 
in  March,  1919,  to  "regulate  the  coal  industry,"  the  German  Na- 
tional Assembly  placed  the  entire  coal  industry  of  the  country  under 
a  council  composed  of  representatives  of  trade  unions,  employers' 
associations,  cooperative  societies,  etc.  This  council  controls  the 
prices  and  distribution  of  coal.  Similar  councils  have  been  set  up 
for  some  of  the  other  principal  national  industries.  They  are  con- 
sidered an  intermediary  step  toward  complete  NATIONALIZATION  of 
industry  in  Germany. 

Reichswirtschaftsrat  (National  Economic  Council).  In  ad- 
dition to,  or  in  a  considerable  degree  as  a  part  of,  the  system  of 
WORKS  COUNCILS  described  in  the  entry  GERMAN  WORKS  COUNCILS 
LAW,  the  constitution  of  the  new  German  Republic  makes  provision 
for  a  system  of  economic  councils,  consisting  of  employers'  and 
workers'  representatives,  with  additional  delegates  from  other  sec- 
tions of  the  public.  Two  forms  of  such  councils  were  proposed: 
(i)  A  district  council,  or  Beiirkswirtschaftsrat,  for  each  economic  area, 
consisting  of  the  district  works  council  for  the  corresponding  economic 
area,  with  employers'  and  other  representatives;  and  (2)  a  national 
council,  or  Reichswirtschaftsrat,  consisting  of  the  national  works 
council,  with  employers'  and  other  representatives.  Owing  to  various 
difficulties,  the  district  economic  councils  have  not  yet  been  estab- 
lished; but  the  national  body  was  created  on  a  provisional  basis 
(Vorbereitender  Reichswirtschaftsrat)  by  decree  of  May  4,  1920.  In 
addition  to  initiating  and  approving  political  measures  of  a  social 
and  economic  nature,  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  this  pro- 
visional body  is  to  establish  the  legal  foundation  upon  which  to 
erect  the  district  works  and  economic  councils  and  the  permanent 
national  economic  council.  When  thus  permanently  established,  the 
Reichswirtschaftsrat,  as  an  economic  parliament  sitting  in  regular 
sessions,  will  pass  on  all  questions  of  either  an  economic  or  socio- 
political nature,  approve  all  bills  of  such  nature  before  their  intro- 
duction in  the  National  Assembly,  and  initiate  and  defend  original 
bills. 

Relative  Wages.    See  WAGES. 

Relief  Funds.    See  ESTABLISHMENT  FUND. 

Relief  Towns.    See  TRAVELLING  CARD. 

Relief  Workers.  See  SHIFT  SYSTEM;  GRASS  WORK;  ON-AND- 
OFF  SYSTEM;  BYE-TURNMAN;  SICK  WORKER;  UTILITY  MAN. 

[404] 


Remuneration  of  Labor  in  Russia.  Under  the  Soviet  labor 
code,  the  remuneration  of  wage  earners,  and  the  conditions  and 
manner  of  payment,  are  fixed  by  the  trade  unions,  in  agreement  with 
the  directors  or  owners  of  the  various  industries,  and  approved  by 
the  PEOPLE'S  COMMISSARIAT  OF  LABOR.  The  workers  in  each  indus- 
try are  classified  by  groups  or  categories,  as  a  basis  for  the  scale  of 
wages  in  that  industry.  In  determining  the  amount  of  remuneration 
for  each  group  or  category,  the  following  factors  are  taken  into 
consideration:  Kind  of  labor;  the  danger,  complexity,  and  accuracy 
involved;  the  degree  of  independence,  responsibility,  education,  and 
experience  required.  In  every  case  the  standard  pay  must  be  at 
least  sufficient  to  provide  for  minimum  living  expenses  in  the  worker's 
district.  The  scale  of  wages  is  for  both  the  normal  working  day  and 
PIECE  WORK;  an  increased  rate  for  OVERTIME  is  stipulated.  Wages 
may  be  paid  "in  kind" — in  lodging,  food  supplies  or  other  articles. 
This,  however,  requires  the  special  permission  of  the  local  depart- 
ment of  labor.  Sick  or  unemployed  workers  are  given  their  regular 
pay.  Bonuses  are  paid  for  the  rapid  execution  of  certain  kinds  of 
work.  Two  decrees  issued  in  1918  stipulate  that  "working  women 
who  execute  the  same  work  in  quality  and  quantity  as  men  receive 
the  same  salary  as  the  latter."  Professional  workers  are  classified 
in  groups  or  categories,  similar  to  those  of  manual  workers,  and  a 
rate  of  remuneration  is  fixed  for  each  group.  Teachers  are  placed  in 
the  group  receiving  the  highest  rate  of  remuneration.  Workers  re- 
ceive full  pay  during  a  two  weeks'  leave  of  absence  every  six  months, 
but  are  not  permitted  to  work  for  remuneration  elsewhere  during 
such  leave. 

Rent  of  Ability.  A  term  sometimes  used  by  economists  to 
denote  a  surplus  of  individual  WAGES  over  the  ordinary  or  average 
level,  earned  because  of  some  exceptional  talent,  skill,  or  endowment 
of  the  worker. 

Rent  of  Opportunity.  Economists  sometimes  use  this  term 
in  designation  of  a  surplus  of  individual  WAGES  over  the  ordinary 
or  average  level,  earned  because  of  some  legal  monopoly  or  exclusive 
concession  in  the  industry  which  employs  the  worker,  because  of  a 
sudden  rush  of  demand  for  a  new  product  or  a  sudden  cheapening  of 
production,  or  because  of  various  other  similar  reasons. 

Repetition  Work.  Those  industrial  operations  in  which  the 
same  specialized  task  or  performance  is  indefinitely  repeated  by  the 
same  worker.  This  class  of  work  is  common  in  all  highly  standardized 

[405] 


manufacturing  industries,  and  is  usually  paid  for  on  a  PIECE  WORK 
basis. 

Replacement.     See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 
Representative  Assembly.     See  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 

Representative  Bargaining.  It  is  a  fixed  trade  union  prin- 
ciple that  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  should  be  conducted  on  the 
workers'  side  by  skilled  specialists — men  who  know  all  the  conditions 
of  the  trade  and  the  market — rather  than  by  the  men  in  actual  em- 
ploy. "Considered  merely  as  a  bargainer,  as  an  actual  participant 
in  the  operations  of  the  market,  the  workman  is  almost  always  under 
grave  disadvantages  as  compared  with  the  employer.  Except  the 
trifling  higgling  which  he  may  do  in  the  purchase  of  his  small  neces- 
sities, he  is  accustomed  to  bargain  only  in  the  sale  of  his  labor,  and 
the  bargains  which  determine  that  sale  are  likely  to  be  made  at  some- 
what long  intervals.  Every  employer,  small  or  great,  of  necessity 
devotes  a  considerable  share  of  his  attention  to  bargains  of  purchase 
and  of  sale.  If  the  labor  bargain  is  made  with  a  foreman,  the  fore- 
man is  continually  engaged  in  such  bargaining,  and  develops  in  it  a 
very  special  skill.  Both  the  foreman  and  the  employer  have  also,  in 
most  cases,  a  higher  degree  of  general  intelligence  and  mental  activity 
than  the  workingman  with  whom  they  deal.  ...  If  the  whole  body  of 
workers  of  a  given  kind  can  be  brought  into  the  union,  so  that  the 
union  can  meet  the  employers  as  the  representative  of  the  whole,  the 
position  of  the  worker  will  be  greatly  strengthened.  There  will  still 
remain  the  absolute  perishability  of  his  commodity — the  need  of 
selling  his  labor  today  under  penalty  of  the  total  loss  of  today's  por- 
tion. But  he  will  be  freed,  by  the  support  of  his  fellows  and  of  the 
union  funds,  from  the  necessity  of  accepting  whatever  is  offered,  on 
pain  of  beggary.  The  fear  that  if  he  refuses  to  accept  certain  terms 
his  neighbor  will  accept  them  will  also  be  removed.  His  ignorance  of 
market  conditions  will  be  partly  remedied,  both  through  the  com- 
bination of  the  knowledge  of  all  the  members  of  the  union,  and,  in 
some  cases,  by  the  broader  outlook  which  the  union  officials,  wholly 
or  partly  exempted  from  daily  application  to  manual  work,  may  be 
able  to  obtain.  The  whole  matter  of  bargaining  can  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  most  skillful ;  and  the  officers  and  leaders  may  develop 
a  skill  in  bargaining,  by  constant  practice,  comparable  to  that  of 
their  opponents."  These  are  the  facts  which  account  for  trade  union 
emphasis  on  the  principle  of  representative  bargaining — that  is  to 
say,  collective  bargaining  conducted  by  expert  "outside"  repre- 

Uo6] 


sentatives  of  the  workers.     (See  INDIVIDUAL  BARGAINING;    TRADE 
UNION.) 

Representative  Meeting.  The  constitution  of  practically 
every  large  British  trade  union  makes  provision  for  the  assembling 
at  least  once  a  year  of  a  "representative  meeting"  or  national  con- 
ference, as  a  means  of  ascertaining  the  real  will  of  the  membership 
on  matters  of  general  policy.  It  is  also  commonly  provided  that  the 
rules  of  the  union  shall  not  be  changed  except  with  the  consent  of  a 
"delegate  meeting"  consisting  of  delegates  from  the  various  districts 
or  BRANCHES  who  as  a  rule  vote  according  to  definite  instructions. 
There  are  still  certain  unions  which  endeavor  to  insure  that  wide 
questions  of  national  policy  shall  be  decided  by  the  whole  member- 
ship by  means  of  a  referendum,  but  this  method  of  framing  policy  is 
gradually  being  narrowed  in  practice,  and  has  been  largely  rendered 
obsolete  by  the  increased  efficiency  of  representative  government. 
The  representative  meeting  or  national  conference  is  often  called  a 
"parliament"  or  "congress."  (See  COTTON  SPINNERS'  PARLIAMENT; 
BRITISH  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZATION.) 

Representatives.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

Reserve  of  Labor.  In  connection  with  any  given  trade  or 
industry,  the  reserve  of  labor  means  simply  the  workers  who  within 
any  given  period  are  liable  to  be  called  on  sometimes  but  are  not 
employed  continuously.  "  In  the  total  reserve  of  labor  for  any  occu- 
pation it  is  possible  to  distinguish  three  elements.  There  is  first  the 
body  of  men  representing  the  fluctuations  in  the  volume  of  work  to 
be  done  at  all  centres  of  employment  taken  together.  These  men  are 
required  by  the  conditions  of  the  trade  as  a  whole.  There  is,  second, 
the  body  of  men  required  by  the  fact  that,  owing  to  distance,  igno- 
rance, or  custom,  the  supply  of  labor  cannot  move  with  perfect  free- 
dom and  instantaneously  from  any  one  centre  of  employment  to  any 
other,  and  that  therefore  separate  centres,  to  meet  their  fluctuations 
of  work,  must  to  some  extent  keep  separate  reserves.  These  men 
represent  the  friction  of  the  labor  market.  There  is,  third,  the  body 
of  men  required  neither  by  the  fluctuations  in  the  total  volume  of 
work  nor  by  the  fluctuations  of  separate  business,  but  liable  to  be 
attracted  and  retained  by  the  perpetual  chance  of  work."  (See 
CASUAL  LABOR;  FRINGE  OF  UNEMPLOYED;  UNDEREMPLOYMENT ; 
ROYALS.) 

Resistance  Fund.    See  STRIKE  FUND. 

[407  1 


Rest -Day  Laws.    See  ONE  DAY'S  REST  IN  SEVEN. 

Rest  Periods.  Brief  intervals  of  relaxation  or  recreation 
allowed  employees  during  working  hours.  In  some  cases  these  periods 
are  of  such  short  duration  that  the  interval  of  relaxation  must  be 
spent  at  desk  or  machine.  But  in  some  establishments  sufficient 
time  is  allowed  to  enable  the  workers  to  make  use  of  special  rest 
rooms,  to  engage  in  systematic  exercise,  or  to  eat  a  light  lunch.  Such 
periods  of  complete  relaxation  and  change  from  the  strain  of  mo- 
notonous and  tiresome  occupations  have  usually  proved  of  great 
advantage  to  both  employees  and  employers.  (See  SNAP  TIME.) 

Restoration  of  Prewar  Practices  Act.  See  INDUSTRIAL 
TRUCE. 

Restriction  of  Numbers.  A  term  used  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb  in  designation  of  one  of  the  two  principal  devices  or  methods 
by  which  trade  unionism  seeks  to  maintain  and  improve  the  condi- 
tions of  employment.  It  refers  specifically  to  the  various  trade 
union  regulations  and  restrictions  regarding  (i)  ENTRANCE  INTO  A 
TRADE  and  (2)  ADMITTANCE  TO  THE  TRADE  UNION.  In  the  first-named 
class  are  the  various  rules  relating  to  APPRENTICESHIP;  those  in  regu- 
lation of  what  is  called  "progression  within  the  trade,"  or  the  steps 
by  which  an  adult  worker  is  advanced  or  promoted  from  one  occupa- 
tion to  another;  and  those  regarding  the  exclusion  of  women  or  chil- 
dren. In  the  second-named  class,  that  which  has  to  do  with  admit- 
tance to  the  trade  union,  belong  such  rules  as  those  requiring  that  an 
applicant  for  membership  shall  have  served  for  a  certain  time  at  his 
trade;  that  he  be  a  "practical"  or  "competent"  worker;  that  he  be 
"of  good  moral  character";  etc.  In  some  of  the  more  highly  skilled 
trades,  the  applicant  must  pass  an  examination.  Most  unions  ex- 
clude foremen  and  small  employers.  The  principal  RAILWAY  BROTHER- 
HOODS have  long  denied  admission  to  negroes,  and  to  workers  directly 
interested  in  the  liquor  business.  Some  unions  either  exc'ude  foreign 
workers  altogether,  or  discriminate  against  them  by  excessive  INITIA- 
TION FEES.  A  few  unions  still  exclude  women.  Finally  may  be  men- 
tioned the  type  of  restriction  made  possible  by  an  EXCLUSIVE  AGREE- 
MENT with  an  employers'  association,  where  a  union  arbitrarily 
excludes  competent  and  otherwise  eligible  workers  in  order  to  main- 
tain a  monopoly  for  its  existing  membership.  In  general,  the  various 
rules  in  regard  to  "restriction  of  numbers"  are  based  on  the  common 
trade  union  assumption  that  better  conditions  can  be  obtained  by 
limiting  the  number  of  competitors.  (See  COMMON  RULE;  COLOR 

[408] 


LINE  IN  TRADE  UNIONISM;  EXCLUSION  POLICY  OP  TRADE  UNIONISM; 
MONOPOLY  POLICY  OF  TRADE  UNIONISM;   PERMIT  SYSTEM.) 

Retirement  Allowances.    See  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE  ;  BENEFITS. 
Retiring  Card.    See  WITHDRAWAL  CARD. 

Revisionists.  Those  socialists  who  adhere  to  a  revised  form 
of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM,  in  which  the  more  radical  or  revolutionary 
theories  of  Marx  are  either  eliminated  or  decidedly  toned  down,  are 
sometimes  thus  designated.  (See  NEO-MARXIANS.) 

Revolutionaries.     See  LEFT,  LEFT  WING. 

Revolutionary  General  Strike.  See  STRIKE;  GENERAL 
STRIKE. 

Revolutionary  Labor  Armies.  The  system  of  COMPULSORY 
LABOR  IN  RUSSIA  assumes  two  main  forms.  One  of  these,  which  may 
be  called  the  normal  form,  consists  in  the  utilization  of  all  the  man- 
power in  the  country,  both  skilled  and  unskilled.  This  man-power  is 
utilized  through  the  process  of  registration,  mobilization,  and  dis- 
tribution. The  second,  or  temporary,  form  consists  in  the  trans- 
formation of  the  active  military  forces  into  a  "labor  army."  In 
other  words,  the  soldiers  are  kept  with  the  colors,  and  are  employed 
on  what  is  called  the  "labor  front"  in  repairing  railway  lines  and 
rolling  stock,  in  road  and  bridge  building,  wood-cutting,  agricultural 
work,  etc.  By  a  decree  signed  on  January  15,  1920,  by  Lenin,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Soviet  of  Defense,  the  Third  Red  Army  from  the  Ural 
front  was  converted  as  a  unit  into  the  First  Revolutionary  Labor 
Army,  with  Leon  Trotzky  as  Commander-in-Chief .  Several  addi- 
tional labor  armies  have  since  been  formed. 

Revolutionary  Labor  Movement.  In  common  usage,  this 
term  is  usually  applied  to  those  elements  in  organized  labor  that 
are  working  for  a  complete  alteration  in  the  existing  social,  political, 
and  economic  system — whether  by  the  avenue  of  SYNDICALISM,  of 
COMMUNISM,  of  ONE  BIG  UNION,  of  GUILD  SOCIALISM,  or  of  any  other 
radical  philosophy.  The  word  "revolutionary"  in  this  connection 
properly  refers  solely  to  the  end  in  view,  and  carries  no  legitimate 
connotations  of  violence  or  bloodshed  in  the  means — although  here, 
as  in  other  sections  or  groupings  of  society,  there  are  elements  which 
advocate  forcible  methods  in  achieving  the  end  in  view.  In  a  more 
general  sense,  as  is  emphasized  in  Frank  Tannenbaum's  "The  Labor 
Movement,"  all  organized  labor  is  revolutionary  in  fact  if  not  in 

[409] 


thought.  "  It  is  not  revolutionary  because  it  wills  to  be;  it  is  revolu- 
tionary because  its  activities  are  such  without  regard  to  the  imme- 
diate object  in  hand.  Organized  labor  is  revolutionary  because  it  is 
the  organized  embodiment  of  what  must  be  described  as  a  compre- 
hensive social  transformation.  ...  A  labor  union  is  a  new  realignment 
of  social  forces  in  the  community — a  revolutionary,  democratic,  co- 
operative grouping  of  men  and  women  around  the  tools  and  the 
industry  with  which  they  are  concerned,  and  the  grouping  has  only 
one  purpose  and  one  result — the  constantly  greater  control  of  the 
machine,  the  industry,  the  tool  which  happens  to  be  their  particular 
means  of  life  and  labor.  Revolutionary  activity  consists  in  the  ab- 
sorption, the  wresting  of  power  and  control  by  one  group  from 
another — and  that  is  what  every  labor  union  does.  It  gains  power 
from  the  employer."  (See  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM;  BORING 
FROM  WITHIN.) 

Revolutionary  Socialism.    See  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM. 

Revolutionary  Unionism.  The  functional  type  of  unionism 
which,  according  to  Hoxie's  "Trade  Unionism  in  the  United  States," 
is  "distinctly  class-conscious  rather  than  trade-conscious.  That  is 
to  say,  it  asserts  the  complete  harmony  of  interests  of  all  wageworkers 
as  against  the  representatives  of  the  employing  class,  and  seeks  to 
unite  the  former,  skilled  and  unskilled  together,  into  one  homogeneous 
fighting  organization.  It  repudiates,  or  tends  to  repudiate,  the  exist- 
ing institutional  order  and  especially  individual  ownership  of  pro- 
ductive means,  and  the  WAGE  SYSTEM.  It  looks  upon  the  prevailing 
modes  of  right  and  rights,  moral  and  legal,  as,  in  general,  fabrications 
of  the  employing  class,  designed  to  secure  the  subjection  and  to 
further  the  EXPLOITATION  of  the  workers.  In  government  it  aspires 
to  be  democratic,  striving  to  make  literal  application  of  the  phrase 
vox  populi,  vox  Dei.  In  method,  it  looks  askance  at  COLLECTIVE 
BARGAINING  and  MUTUAL  INSURANCE  as  making  for  conservatism 
and  hampering  the  free  and  united  action  of  the  workers."  There 
are  two  main  types  of  revolutionary  unionism.  One,  the  milder 
form,  "finds  its  ultimate  ideal  in  the  socialistic  State  and  its  ultimate 
means  in  invoking  class  POLITICAL  ACTION."  The  other  and  more 
radical  form  repudiates  SOCIALISM,  and  looks  forward  to  a  society 
based  wholly  upon  free  industrial  association;  it  finds  its  chosen 
weapons  in  the  various  forms  of  DIRECT  ACTION,  and  its  necessary 
medium  in  the  INDUSTRIAL  UNION.  Its  aim,  as  expressed  by  one  of 
its  prominent  exponents,  "is  to  build  up  an  industrial  republic  inside 
the  shell  of  the  political  State,  in  order  that  when  that  industrial 

[410] 


republic  is  fully  organized  it  may  crack  the  shell  of  the  political  State 
and  step  into  its  place  in  the  scheme  of  the  universe.  .  .  The  adminis- 
tration of  affairs  will  be  in  the  hands  of  representatives  of  the  various 
industries  of  the  nation;  .  .  the  workers  in  the  shops  and  factories 
will  organize  themselves  into  unions,  each  union  comprising  all  the 
workers  at  a  given  industry;  . .  said  union  will  democratically  control 
the  workshop  life  of  its  own  industry,  electing  all  foremen,  etc.,  and 
regulating  the  routine  of  labor  in  that  industry  in  subordination  to 
the  needs  of  society  in  general,  to  the  needs  of  its  allied  trades  and  to 
the  department  of  industry  to  which  it  belongs.  .  .  .  Representatives 
elected  from  these  various  departments  of  industry  will  meet  and 
form  the  industrial  administration  or  national  government  of  the 
country."  This  type,  of  which  the  I.  W.  W.  is  the  chief  American 
exponent,  is  sometimes  known  as  "syndicalist  unionism."  (See  NEW 
UNIONISM;  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM;  SYNDICALISM;  ONE  BIG  UNION; 
MARXIAN  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM.) 

Reward  Systems  or  Prize  Systems.  A  name  sometimes  given 
to  the  various  methods  of  wage  payment  which  make  provision  for 
bonuses  or  premiums  as  an  inducement  to  increased  effort  on  the 
part  of  workers.  (See  BONUS  SYSTEM;  PREMIUM  BONUS  SYSTEM; 
EFFICIENCY  PAYMENTS.) 

Right,  Right  Wing.  Terms  usually  applied  to  that  group  or 
element  in  any  organized  movement  or  body  which  represents  the 
most  conservative  opinion  and  policies.  The  members  of  this  group 
are  usually  known  as  "moderates."  (See  REFORMIST;  OPPORTUNIST.) 

Right  to  Strike.  A  slogan  which  represents  one  of  the  most 
fundamental  claims  of  organized  labor.  Any  interference  with  or 
denial  of  this  right  (such,  for  instance,  as  that  set  up  by  the  KANSAS 
INDUSTRIAL  COURT  and  the  COLORADO  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION 
LAW)  constitutes,  from  the  worker's  point  of  view,  an  effort  toward 
placing  labor  in  a  state  of  INVOLUNTARY  SERVITUDE.  The  right  to 
strike  is  considered  by  labor  a  necessary  check  upon  the  arbitrary 
use  of  the  employer's  right  to  discharge.  The  report  on  railway 
labor  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COM- 
MISSION by  Dr.  Samuel  McCune  Lindsay  declares  that  "it  is  the 
almost  unanimous  opinion  of  modern  economists  of  various  schools 
of  thought  that  labor  combinations  with  the  power  to  appeal  in  the 
last  resort  to  a  strike  or  a  joint  refusal  to  work  are,  under  the  present 
system  of  competition,  necessary  and  expedient.  While  most  labor 
organizations  realize  that  the  strike  is  a  costly  and,  in  most  cases,  a 

[4x0 


useless  weapon  with  which  to  accomplish  their  purposes,  the  wisdom 
of  maintaining  the  right  to  strike,  as  a  last  resort,  can  not  be  ques- 
tioned. It  has  been  frequently  affirmed  in  court  decisions."  (See 
STRIKES  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Right  to  the  Trade.  In  connection  with  OVERLAP  and 
JURISDICTION,  this  phrase  denotes  the  common  trade  union  assump- 
tion expressed  in  the  following  statement  of  an  English  labor  organ- 
ization :  "  Considering  that  the  trade  by  which  we  live  is  our  property, 
bought  by  certain  years  of  servitude,  which  gives  to  us  a  vested  right, 
and  that  we  have  a  sole  and  exclusive  claim  on  it,  as  all  will  have 
hereafter  who  purchase  it  by  the  same  means,  .  .  it  is  evident  it  is  our 
duty  to  protect,  by  all  fair  and  legal  means,  the  property  by  which 
we  live,  being  always  equally  careful  not  to  trespass  on  the  rights  of 
others."  The  phrase  "Right  to  a  Trade"  is  used  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb  in  designation  of  one  of  the  seven  classes  of  regulations  which 
trade  unionism  seeks  to  enforce.  (See  VESTED  INTERESTS  DOC- 
TRINE.) 

Right  to  Work.  Although  the  right  to  work  was  recognized 
by  an  i8th  century  law  in  Prussia  which  guaranteed  State  support 
for  any  able-bodied  male  unable  to  find  employment,  the  first  recog- 
nition of  this  principle  on  a  broad  national  scale  was  made  by  the 
present  Soviet  government  of  Russia,  whose  labor  laws  declare  that 
"all  citizens  able  to  work  have  the  right  to  employment  at  their 
vocations,  and  for  remunerations  fixed  for  such  class  of  work."  If  no 
work  can  be  found  for  any  able-bodied  person,  he  or  she  is  entitled 
to  a  full  wage  or  salary  for  the  whole  time  of  involuntary  idleness. 
(See  COMPULSORY  LABOR  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Rochdale  Pioneers.     See  ROCHDALE  PLAN. 

Rochdale  Plan.  This  term  refers  to  the  system  or  method 
of  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION  originated  by  the  Rochdale  Society  of 
Equitable  Pioneers  (the  members  of  which  are  now  commonly  known 
as  the  "Rochdale  Pioneers"  or  "Equitable  Pioneers")  in  Rochdale, 
Lancashire,  England,  in  1844;  which  is  still  the  basis  of  most  con- 
sumers' cooperative  societies.  Under  this  plan,  to  become  a  member 
of  such  a  society  at  least  one  share  of  stock  (commonly  of  about  $5 
par  value)  must  be  purchased,  but  may  usually  be  paid  for  in  small 
installments.  The  maximum  number  of  shares  that  can  be  held 
by  one  member  is  commonly  fixed  at  two  hundred.  Each  paid-up 
share  bears  interest,  limited  generally  to  five  per  cent,  and  its  value 
never  rises  above  par.  In  the  general  meetings  of  the  society,  each 


member  has  one  vote,  irrespective  of  the  number  of  shares  held,  and 
is  eligible  to  a  seat  on  the  board  of  management  or  to  any  other 
representative  office.  Goods  are  sold,  for  cash,  at  current  prices; 
but  at  the  end  of  each  quarter,  half,  or  full  year  the  "profits"  or 
"dividends"  (that  is,  the  surplus  over  cost  price  plus  expenses  of 
management,  etc.)  are  divided  among  the  purchasers  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  purchases  made.  Non-members  are  permitted  to 
purchase  at  the  cooperative  stores,  and  to  participate  in  profits, 
but  they  usually  receive  only  half  the  rate  of  dividend  paid  to 
members. 

Rockefeller  Plan  or  Colorado  Plan.  A  scheme  of  EMPLOYEE 
REPRESENTATION  introduced  into  the  Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron  Co. 
(owned  largely  by  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.)  after  a  disastrous  strike 
in  1913,  and  since  adopted  by  several  other  large  industrial  concerns. 
It  consists  of  a  system  of  SHOP  COMMITTEES  elected  by  and  from  among 
the  company's  own  employees,  without  regard  to  their  outside  union 
affiliations;  and  these  committees  meet  in  joint  session  with  the 
company's  representatives,  for  the  adjustment  of  grievances  and 
other  matters. 

Rotation  of  Shifts.     See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Roumanian  General  Trade  Union  Commission.  See 
COMISIA  GENERALA  A  SINDICATELUR  DIU  RUMANIA. 

Roustabouts.    See  MIGRATORY  LABOR. 

Routing.  This  term  sometimes  refers  to  the  physical  lay-out 
of  industrial  plants  and  the  relationship  of  departments.  More 
commonly,  however,  it  has  to  do  (in  connection  with  SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEMENT)  with  the  analysis  of  the  sequence  of  operations  in 
industrial  work,  and  the  determination  of  the  place  and  time  for  each 
operation  or  group  of  operations.  Also  called  "scheduling"  and 
"despatching."  (See  FUNCTIONAL  FOREMANSHIP;  INSTRUCTION 
CARD  SYSTEM.) 

Rovers.     See  MIGRATORY  LABOR. 

Rowan  Plan.  A  form  of  the  PREMIUM  BONUS  SYSTEM  devised 
by  James  Rowan,  a  Glasgow  employer,  and  widely  adopted  in  British 
industry.  Under  this  plan,  for  every  ten  per  cent  that  is  saved  on 
the  time  allowed  or  BASE  TIME  for  a  particular  job,  the  worker  receives 
a  ten  per  cent  increase  in  earnings.  Thus  the  cost  per  piece  is  reduced 
while  the  wage  per  hour  is  increased ;  but  the  rate  can  never  go  be- 

[.413  1 


yond  twice  the  original  rate  per  hour — because,  in  order  to  accom- 
plish a  hundred  per  cent  increase  on  the  original  rate  the  worker 
would  have  to  save  one  hundred  per  cent  of  the  time,  or  in  other 
words  he  would  have  to  do  the  job  in  no  time  at  all. 

Royals.  In  English  labor  slang,  these  are  picked  men  among 
the  "casual"  dockworkers — those  who  are  on  the  preference  lists  of 
employers  and  are  hired  more  frequently  than  the  ordinary  "casual" 
DOCKER.  (See  RESERVE  OF  LABOR.) 

Royalty.  In  connection  with  British  mining,  this  is  a  per- 
centage on  the  output  of  a  mine  paid  by  the  mine  OPERATOR  to  the 
Crown  or  other  owner  of  the  land  upon  which  the  mine  is  situated. 

Rule  Book.    See  WORKING  RULES. 
Rules.    See  WORKING  RULES. 

Rump  Union.  A  seceding  or  OUTLAW  trade  union  is  sometimes 
so  designated  by  members  of  "regular"  labor  organizations.  (See 
SECESSIONISTS.) 

Run -of -Mine  System.     See  SCREENING  SYSTEM. 
Runaway  Strike.     See  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE. 
Rusher.     See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Ruskin  College.  This,  the  first  residential  college  for  working- 
class  students  in  England,  was  founded  at  Oxford  about  twenty  years 
ago  by  two  Americans,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter  Vrooman.  The  aim  of 
the  founders  was  to  establish  an  institution  where  workers  endeavor- 
ing to  elevate  their  class  and  not  to  rise  out  of  it  might  obtain  an  edu- 
cation in  the  social  sciences  of  most  value  to  the  growing  democratic 
working-class  movement,  "untrammeled  by  the  conventional  out- 
look of  any  one  school  of  thought  or  section  or  party."  It  is  de- 
scribed by  its  officials  as  a  "school  of  citizenship  and  public  admin- 
istration for  workingmen,  endeavoring  to  create  in  each  student  a 
feeling  that  the  education  which  he  receives  is  not  a  means  of  personal 
advancement,  but  a  trust  for  the  good  of  others."  The  provisions  for 
residential  education  at  Ruskin  College  are  intended  for  workingmen 
who  show  special  promise  and  who  are  likely  to  be  called  upon  by 
their  fellow  workers  to  take  up  positions  in  which  wise  leadership  is 
required;  by  this  means  they  are  enabled  to  come  to  Oxford  and 
study  the  problems  they  may  have  to  solve.  By  means  of  a  cor- 
respondence course,  the  college  reaches  a  great  number  of  workers 

[414] 


who  cannot  take  residence  at  Oxford.  The  college  is  supported 
mainly  by  trade  unions,  cooperative  societies,  and  other  working- 
class  organizations,  and  partly  by  individual  subscribers.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  students  come  to  the  college  by  means  of  scholarships 
provided  by  working-class  organizations.  The  college  aims  to  pro- 
vide a  thoroughly  broad  education  in  economics,  history,  local  gov- 
ernment, cooperation,  and  trade  unionism.  English  literature  and 
French  and  German  are  also  studied. 

Russian  Communist  Party.     See  BOLSHEVISM 
Rustler.    See  RUSTLING  CARD. 

Rustling  Card.  Beginning  in  1912,  the  Anaconda  Copper 
Company  of  Butte,  Montana,  required  every  applicant  for  employ- 
ment to  fill  out  a  blank  giving  full  information  regarding  himself  and 
his  previous  situations.  If  the  information  given  was  acceptable, 
the  company  issued  to  the  applicant  a  card  which  entitled  him  to 
apply  for  work  to  any  foreman  of  the  mines.  This  card  was  called  a 
"rustling  card";  its  holder  was  a  "rustler,"  one  privileged  to  "rustle 
the  mine" — i.e.,  apply  for  work  among  the  mine  foremen.  No  one 
without  a  "rustling  card"  was  permitted  to  be  taken  on.  With  one 
or  two  important  modifications,  the  rustling  card  system  continues 
in  operation  at  the  present  time.  Now,  however,  it  is  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  joint  employment  office  of  most  of  the  companies  in  the 
district,  known  as  the  Butte  Mutual  Labor  Bureau.  Its  purpose  is 
of  course  to  keep  out  miners  who  are  "undesirable"  from  the  opera- 
tors' point  of  view.  It  has  been  the  cause  of  much  bitter  feeling 
among  the  miners,  who  regard  it  as  essentially  a  BLACKLIST  system. 
Somewhat  similar  employment  systems,  in  which  the  use  of  what 
are  called  "rustling  cards"  is  a  prominent  feature,  are  occasionally 
found  in  other  American  industries. 


S.  D.  F.    See  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC  FEDERATION. 

S.  T.  U.  C.    See  SCOTTISH  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS. 

Sab -Cat.  An  I.  W.  W.  nickname  for  the  organization's 
familiar  emblem — a  black  cat  and  a  wooden  shoe.  "Sab"  is  an 
abbreviation  of  "sabotage,"  derived  from  the  French  sabot,  a  wooden 
shoe.  The  symbolism  of  the  cat  has  not  been  explained.  The  emblem 
often  appears  in  connection  with  such  related  mottoes  as  "A  kick  in 
time  saves  nine,"  "Kick  your  way  out  of  wage  slavery,"  "Our  coat 
of  arms:  the  shoe  rampant,"  "A  kick  on  the  job  is  worth  ten  at  the 
ballot-box,"  "Immediate  demands:  wooden  shoes  on  all  jobs,"  "The 
foot  in  the  wooden  shoe  will  rock  the  world,"  etc.  The  term  "sab- 
cat"  is  sometimes  applied  to  an  individual  I.  W.  W.  who  practices 

SABOTAGE. 

Sabotage.  Derived  from  the  French  word  sabot,  meaning  a 
wooden  shoe,  this  term  is  often  supposed  to  have  originally  denoted 
the  idea  of  stalling  machinery  by  throwing  a  wooden  clog  into  it. 
Probably  its  more  direct  derivation  is  from  the  French  verb  saboter 
(itself  derived  from  sabot),  meaning  to  bungle  or  to  botch;  while 
some  find  its  origin  in  the  French  expression,  "Travailler  a  coups  de 
sabots,"  meaning  to  work  as  one  wearing  wooden  shoes,  often  applied 
to  lazy  or  slow-moving  persons.  If  the  derivation  of  the  term  is  elu- 
sive, its  precise  meaning  is  even  more  difficult  of  statement.  Accord- 
ing to  J.  A.  Esty,  sabotage  "is  a  comprehensive  term,  covering  every 
process  by  which  the  laborer,  while  remaining  at  work,  tries  to  damage 
the  interests  of  his  employer,  whether  by  simple  malingering,  or  by 
bad  quality  of  work,  or  by  doing  actual  damage  to  tools  and  ma- 
chinery." In  this  sense,  the  most  common  forms  of  sabotage  consist 
in  systematic  loafing  at  work,  known  as  CA'  CANNY  or  STRIKING  ON 
THE  JOB;  in  wasting  materials,  turning  out  damaged  or  inferior 
goods,  misdirecting  shipments,  etc. ;  and  in  such  acts  as  putting  soap 
in  engine  boilers  to  retard  the  development  of  steam,  putting  sand  in 

[416] 


delicate  bearings,  or  short-circuiting  electrical  apparatus.  But  be- 
sides these  and  innumerable  other  forms  of  malicious  sabotage,  there 
are  certain  intrinsically  harmless  or  (as  far  as  the  consumer  is  con- 
cerned) actually  beneficial  forms  which  are  often  practiced,  but  of 
which  the  above-quoted  definition  takes  no  account.  In  this  latter 
class  belong  the  common  practice  of  living  up  to  the  letter  of  certain 
safety  rules  enacted  by  the  employer  for  his  own  protection  but  not 
really  intended  to  be  observed — as  exemplified  in  the  WORK-TO-RULE 
MOVEMENT;  or  the  practice  of  doing  a  job  so  thoroughly  and  effi- 
ciently that  there  can  be  little  if  any  profit  in  it  for  the  employer ; 
or  telling  a  customer  the  precise  truth  about  inferior  or  adulterated 
goods  (called  the  OPEN-MOUTH  STRIKE)  ;  or  giving  full  weight  when 
fraudulent  scales  are  used;  etc.,  etc.  As  summarized  by  John 
Spargo,  "sabotage  is  a  principle  of  action  rather  than  a  method — a 
principle  of  action  capable  of  an  almost  infinite  variety  of  applica- 
tions. It  may  involve  violence,  or  it  may  be  peaceful.  It  may 
involve  destruction  of  property  or  it  may  not.  It  may  be  based  on 
illegal  acts  or  it  may  not.  It  may  consist  of  telling  lies  or  of  telling 
the  simple  truth.  ...  It  is  essentially  a  furtive  and  stealthy  policy, 
practiced  by  individual  workers,  having  for  its  aim  the  obstruction 
of  industry  and  business  to  such  an  extent  that  the  employers  will 
suffer  a  loss  of  profits  so  great  as  to  be  compelled  to  grant  the  workers' 
demands."  Sabotage  is  in  the  social  or  industrial  war  what  guerilla 
fighting  is  in  national  wars.  While  a  favorite  method  of  SYNDICALISM 
and  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM,  it  is  for  the  most  part  vigorously 
repudiated  by  orthodox  trade  unionists.  In  common  usage,  the 
word  "sabotage"  has  both  its  verbal  and  its  adjectival  forms — "to 
sabotage,"  "sabotaging,"  "sabotaged,"  etc.  (See  CONSCIENTIOUS 
WITHDRAWAL  OP  EFFICIENCY;  SCAMPING;  RATTENING;  GREVE 
PERLCE;  STRIKE  OF  THE  MACHINE;  SABOTAGE  LAW;  CRIMINAL 
SYNDICALISM  LAWS.) 

Sabotage  Law.  By  this  title  is  commonly  known  the  Federal 
enactment  of  May,  1918,  which  declares  to  be  unlawful  any  associa- 
tion "one  of  whose  purposes  or  professed  purposes  is  to  bring  about 
any  governmental,  social,  industrial  or  economic  change  within  the 
United  States  by  the  use,  without  authority  of  law,  of  physical 
force,  violence  or  physical  injury  to  person  or  property,  or  by  threats 
of  such  injury,  or  which  teaches,  advocates,  advises  or  defends  the 
use  ...  of  physical  force,  violence  or  physical  injury  to  person  or 
property,  or  threats  of  such  injury,  to  accomplish  such  change  or 
for  any  other  purpose,  and  which,  during  any  war  in  which  the 

[417] 


United  States  is  engaged,  shall  by  any  such  means  prosecute  or  pur- 
sue such  purpose  or  professed  purpose,  or  shall  so  teach,  advocate, 
advise  or  defend."  Severe  penalties  are  provided  for  anyone  who 
connects  himself  in  any  way  with  such  an  association. 

Sack.  In  British  labor  slang,  "to  get  the  sack"  is  to  be  dis- 
charged from  work;  or,  in  an  active  sense,  "to  sack"  a  worker  is  to 
discharge  him.  At  one  time  manufacturers  who  employed  those 
who  worked  at  home  put  the  work  in  a  bag  or  sack.  If  when  brought 
back  the  work  was  satisfactory,  the  bag  or  sack  was  filled  again 
with  materials;  if  not,  it  was  laid  empty  on  the  counter,  and  this 
indicated  that  the  person  would  no  longer  be  employed  by  the  firm. 

Sacrificed  Member.     See  VICTIMIZATION. 
Safety.     See  INDUSTRIAL  SAFETY. 

Safety  Appliance  Act.  A  Federal  enactment  of  1897  "to 
promote  the  safety  of  employees  and  travellers  upon  railroads  by 
compelling  the  common  carriers  engaged  in  interstate  commerce  to 
equip  their  cars  with  automatic  couplers  and  continuous  brakes,  and 
their  locomotives  with  driving-wheel  brakes,  and  for  other  purposes." 

Safety  Codes.  Standard  instructions  or  regulations  for  the 
prevention  of  accidents,  promotion  of  correct  sanitary  principles, 
etc.,  for  particular  industries,  kinds  of  work,  forms  of  machinery  or 
other  apparatus,  etc.  Under  the  general  direction  of  the  Bureau  of 
Standards  of  the  Federal  Department  of  Commerce,  a  National 
Safety  Code  Committee  has  recently  been  formed,  to  organize  the 
formulation  of  uniform  national  safety  codes  in  all  the  main  indus- 
tries of  the  country.  The  drafting  and  enforcing  of  industrial  safety 
codes  often  forms  an  important  part  of  a  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMIS- 
SION'S work. 

Safety  Committees.     See  INDUSTRIAL  SAFETY. 

Safety  Engineers.  Technical  experts  employed  in  large  in- 
dustrial plants  to  study  the  hazards  of  the  particular  work  being 
carried  on,  to  devise  safeguards  for  the  prevention  of  accidents,  and 
to  create  the  elements  of  attention,  understanding,  and  discipline 
necessary  to  make  those  safeguards  effective.  Also  called  "safety 
supervisors."  (See  ENGINEERING  REVISION.) 

Safety  First  Movement.  The  systematic  effort,  on  the  part 
of  employers,  public  authorities,  national,  state,  and  local  organiza- 
tions, etc.,  to  prevent  industrial  and  other  accidents,  to  safeguard 

[418] 


human  life,  and  to  promote  the  health  and  welfare  of  working  people. 
The  rapid  development  of  the  "safety  first  movement"  has  closely 
followed  the  enactment  of  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  laws  and 
other  forms  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE.  (See  INDUSTRIAL  SAFETY;  IN- 
DUSTRIAL SAFETY  LAWS;  SAFETY  CODES;  SAFETY  SURVEY;  SAFETY 
MUSEUMS;  ENGINEERING  REVISION;  SAFETY  ENGINEERS;  INDUS- 
TRIAL MEDICINE.) 

Safety  Museums.  Permanent  public  displays  of  devices,  ap- 
pliances, and  methods  of  safeguarding  the  life,  limbs,  and  health  of 
industrial  workers.  In  1916  there  were  such  safety  museums  in  four- 
teen European  cities.  For  several  years  an  American  Museum  of 
Safety  was  maintained  in  New  York  City,  but  this  has  now  been 
temporarily  discontinued. 

Safety  Strike.  A  concerted  refusal  to  work  under  conditions 
considered  dangerous  to  life,  limb,  or  health.  Safety  strikes  are 
mainly  confined  to  the  mining  industry. 

Safety  Supervisors.     See  SAFETY  ENGINEERS. 

Safety  Survey.  A  systematic  investigation  into  the  hazards 
to  life,  limb,  and  health  in  a  particular  industrial  plant,  including  a 
study  of  the  nature  and  causes  of  all  industrial  accidents  that  have 
occurred,  carried  on  with  a  view  to  preventing  such  accidents  in  the 
future  and  to  safeguarding  the  workers  in  all  possible  ways. 

St.  Louis  Platform.  See  SOCIALIST  PARTY  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES. 

Saint -Simonism.  The  political  and  social  system  formulated 
by  the  Comte  de  Saint-Simon  (1760-1825),  the  founder  of  French 
SOCIALISM.  Its  central  idea  is  the  abolition  of  inheritance,  and  the 
union  of  all  instruments  of  labor  in  a  social  fund,  to  be  exploited  by 
association;  the  worker,  however,  being  rewarded  according  to  his 
skill  and  capacities,  and  not  by  equal  division  regardless  of  merit. 
(See  UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM.) 

Salariat.  A  name  sometimes  used  in  designation  of  that 
section  of  the  working  public  (consisting  of  clerks,  travelling  sales- 
men, draftsmen,  technical  workers,  etc.)  which  sells  its  labor  for  a 
month  or  a  year  at  a  time;  so  called  because  it  receives  a  salary  with 
a  fixed  tenure  instead  of  daily  or  weekly  wages  during  a  period  of 
uncertain  duration,  as  is  the  case  with  the  PROLETARIAT.  This  class 
is  rapidly  allying  itself  in  nearly  all  countries  with  the  proletariat, 

[419] 


in  industrial  trade  union  organizations.    (See  BLACKCOATS;  MIDDLE 
CLASS;   INTELLECTUAL  PROLETARIAT.) 

Sand  Hog.     Nickname  for  a  common  laborer  employed  below 
the  surface  in  tunnel  or  subway  construction. 

Sanitation  and  Safety.  Under  this  head  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb 
list  the  third  class  of  trade  union  regulations  involved  in  what  they 
call  the  principle  of  the  COMMON  RULE.  As  summarized  by  George 
O'Brien,  in  his  book  on  "Labor  Organization,"  this  is  obviously  "a 
subject  which  conies  directly  within  trade  union  activity,  because 
the  conditions  under  which  a  man  works  are  just  as  important  a  term 
of  his  contract  of  employment  as  the  wages  he  receives  or  the  length 
of  his  working  day.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  a  man  working  in 
a  sanitary  and  safe  factory  is  really  receiving  a  higher  wage  than 
another  man  working  at  the  same  rate  of  wages  in  unhealthy  and 
dangerous  conditions.  This  class  of  regulations  is  one  which  cannot 
possibly  be  enforced  by  MUTUAL  INSURANCE,  and  which  can  only  be 
enforced  with  difficulty  by  means  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  lends  itself  particularly  to  the  method  of  LEGAL 
ENACTMENT,  and  thus  we  find  that  the  first  interference  of  Parlia- 
ment in  the  last  century  with  industrial  matters  was  concerned  with 
the  conditions  of  safety  and  sanitation  in  factories.  The  code,  which 
has  come  to  be  known  as  the  FACTORY  ACTS,  has  now  grown  to  enor- 
mous proportions,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  greater  part  of  it 
would  never  have  been  passed  had  it  not  been  for  the  agitation  of 
trade  unions  concerned.  In  other  words,  the  legal  enactment  often 
gave  effect  to  the  provisions  of  a  collective  bargain." 

Sanitorium  Benefits.    See  NATIONAL  INSURANCE  ACT. 

Sankey  Commission.  A  British  royal  commission  appointed 
early  in  1919  to  investigate  wages  and  conditions  in  the  British  coal 
industry.  It  was  composed  of  thirteen  members,  representing  em- 
ployers in  general,  mine  owners,  labor  in  general,  and  miners,  with 
Mr.  Justice  Sankey  presiding.  A  majority  report  issued  March  20 
declared  that  "the  present  system  of  ownership  and  working  in  the 
coal  industry  stands  condemned  " ;  and  this  report,  with  two  minority 
reports,  proposed  various  changes  in  wage  scales  and  working  condi- 
tions. A  second  report,  issued  June  20,  unanimously  recommended 
that  the  royalty  owners  should  be  at  once  expropriated  in  favor  of 
the  State;  while  a  minority  report,  with  the  chairman  and  six  mem- 
bers in  agreement,  proposed  an  elaborate  scheme  of  NATIONALIZATION 
for  the  coal  industry,  with  administration  under  a  Minister  of  Mines 

[420] 


by  joint  district  councils  and  pit  committees,  in  which  the  miners 
would  be  largely  represented.  Contrary  to  the  government's  pledge 
to  adopt  the  findings  of  the  Sankey  Commission,  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
announced  in  October,  1919,  that  while  the  government  would  pro- 
pose the  nationalization  of  mining  ROYALTIES  and  some  undefined 
"trustification"  of  the  mines  by  districts,  there  would  be  no  general 
adoption  of  the  Sankey  reports.  No  definite  action  in  the  matter  has 
since  been  taken  on  the  part  of  the  government.  The  published  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Sankey  Commission  created  world-wide  interest, 
because  of  the  light  which  they  threw  on  the  disorganized  workings  of 
the  British  coal  industry,  the  tremendous  profits  of  the  companies 
and  owners,  and  the  unsatisfactory  conditions  under  which  the 
miners  lived  and  worked. 

Saturdaying.    See  SUBBOTNIK. 
Satyagraha.     See  HARTAL. 

Savings    Bank    Insurance.    See    MASSACHUSETTS    SAVINGS 
BANKS  INSURANCE  AND  PENSION  SYSTEM. 

Scab,  Scabbing.  Among  trade  unionists  the  term  "scab"  is 
applied,  in  general,  to  any  person  guilty  of  disloyalty  to  a  trade  union. 
The  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  Union,  for  example,  defines  a  scab  as 
"an  employer  or  employee  who  has  violated  the  laws  of  this  or  of 
subordinate  unions,  whom  the  members  of  the  international  union 
are  debarred  from  working  for  or  with  until  he  or  they  have  complied 
with  the  laws  of  said  union."  This  union  has  different  rates  of  fines 
for  what  the  constitution  terms  "common  scabs,"  "inveterate  or 
notorious  scabs,"  and  UNION  WRECKERS.  The  constitution  of  an- 
other union  defines  "scabbing "as  follows:  "A  member  of  a  union 
engaging  to  take  a  situation  in  the  jurisdiction  of  another  union  at  a 
lower  rate  of  wages  than  the  scale  of  prices  of  the  latter  union  calls 
for,  and  failing  for  any  cause  to  obtain  the  same,  is  guilty  of  scab- 
bing." In  common  current  usage,  however,  the  term  "scab"  is  most 
often  applied  to  any  person  who  hires  or  volunteers  to  take  the  place 
of  a  worker  out  on  strike.  Such  action  is  known  as  "scabbing,"  and 
those  who  thus  act  are  said  to  have  "scabbed."  "Scab  goods"  are 
those  produced  or  handled  by  scabs.  Some  national  unions  keep  on 
file  or  publish  at  regular  intervals  a  list  of  scabs,  arranged  according 
to  the  locals  by  which  they  were  reported.  In  the  eyes  of  trade 
unionists,  "scabbing"  is  the  sin  of  sins,  and  a  scab  is  regarded  with 
the  same  loathing  and  contempt  that  patriotic  persons  bestow  upon 
28  [421] 


a  national  traitor.     (See  BLACKLEG;    UNION  SCAB;    RAT;    WHITE 
COLLAR  SCABS;   GOLDEN  SCABS.) 

Scab  Goods.     See  SCAB. 

Scab -Herders.  Private  LABOR  DETECTIVE  AGENCIES  and  other 
concerns  which  make  a  practice  of  supplying  professional  STRIKE- 
BREAKERS are  commonly  known  among  organized  workers  by  this 
epithet. 

Scab  List.     See  SCAB. 

Scab  Union.     See  UNION  SCAB. 

Scale.  In  the  labor  movement,  a  general  designation  for  the 
varying  rates  of  wages  paid  to  different  classes  of  workers  or  for 
different  kinds  of  labor,  in  a  particular  industry  as  a  whole  or  in  a 
single  establishment.  Where  such  rates  are  fixed  by  COLLECTIVE 
BARGAINING,  the  term  "union  scale"  is  commonly  used.  In  most 
cases  the  union  scale  aims  to  establish  a  minimum  standard  only. 
(See  PRICE  LIST;  INCREMENTAL  SCALE.) 

Scale  Committee.     See  INTERSTATE  JOINT  CONFERENCES  IN 

THE   COAL-MINING    INDUSTRY. 

Scale  of  Living.     See  STANDARD  OF  LIVING. 

Scamping.  Working  in  an  intentionally  slipshod,  inefficient, 
or  dishonest  fashion,  or  causing  others  thus  to  "scamp"  or  "skimp" 
their  work.  As  a  wage-earner's  policy,  scamping  is  often  a  form  of 
SABOTAGE,  practiced  by  the  dissatisfied  worker.  In  its  more  common 
form  it  is  an  employer's  policy,  adopted  to  meet  competition,  increase 
profits,  etc.  In  a  wholly  different  sense,  a  worker  who  so  increases 
his  individual  output  as  to  arouse  the  suspicions  of  his  fellow-workers 
is  said  by  the  latter  to  be  "scamping";  and  this  term  is  also 
sometimes  used  in  designation  of  the  act  of  an  employer  in  "stealing" 
workers  from  his  competitors. 

Scheduling.    See  ROUTING. 

Schulze-Delitzsch  Banks.  These  institutions,  the  first  of 
which  was  founded  by  Franz  Schulze  of  Delitzsch,  Germany,  in 
1850,  represent  one  of  the  two  main  types  of  European  CREDIT 
UNIONS.  Under  the  Schulze-Delitzsch  plan,  a  number  of  persons  in 
a  town  combine  in  guaranteeing  a  certain  amount  of  capital,  each 
person  subscribing  for  one  share  only,  of  large  value,  to  be  paid  for 
in  small  instalments.  On  the  strength  of  this  capital,  the  association 

[422] 


borrows  money,  which  it  in  turn  lends  to  its  members  at  current 
interest  rates.  Profits  are  divided  among  the  members,  or  placed  in 
a  reserve.  Schulze-Delitzsch  banks  differ  from  RAIFFEISEN  BANKS  in 
that  they  mainly  serve  middle-class  townspeople  rather  than  the 
peasantry,  are  based  upon  share  capital,  are  run  for  profit,  and  are 
conducted  by  paid  directors.  (See  CREDIT  COOPERATION.) 

Schweizerischer  Gewerkschaftsbund  (Swiss  Federation  of 
Trade  Unions).  The  national  central  organization  of  trade  union 
workers  in  Switzerland;  founded  in  1880.  The  twenty-two  national 
unions  now  affiliated  in  the  Gewerkschaftsbund  had  a  constituent 
membership  in  1920  of  225,000.  The  Federation  works  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  Swiss  Socialist  Party. 

Scientific  Management.  In  the  general  theoretical  definition 
of  Professor  Hoxie,  this  is  "an  attempt  through  accurate  industrial 
analysis  to  discover  and  put  into  operation  the  objective  facts  and 
laws  which  underlie  true  efficiency  in  production.  In  its  broadest 
and  best  application  it  attempts  through  this  process  of  analysis 
to  determine  the  best  location  and  structure  of  the  shop  for  the  par- 
ticular manufacture  designed;  the  most  efficient  processes  and 
methods  of  production  in  general  and  in  detail ;  the  material,  organic 
and  human  arrangements  and  relationships  best  suited  to  further 
the  productive  process;  the  most  effective  character,  arrangement 
and  uses  of  the  machinery,  tools  and  materials  employed;  the  meth- 
ods of  selection  and  training  of  the  workmen  and  managerial  force 
most  conducive  to  efficiency;  the  character  and  amount  of  work 
which  can  and  ought  to  be  performed  by  each  member  of  the  labor 
and  managerial  force;  the  payment  to  be  accorded  each  individual 
in  the  interests  of  efficiency  and  justice;  and  in  general  it  aims  to 
discover  all  the  material,  organic  and  human  qualities,  arrangements 
and  relationships  which  will  result  in  greatest  output  and  lowest 
cost."  In  its  practical  industrial  application,  the  primary  object  of 
scientific  management  is  "to  increase  output,  reduce  the  cost  per 
unit  of  production,  and  raise  the  wages  of  operators.  This  is  ac- 
complished :  first,  by  determining  with  the  aid  of  experienced  investi- 
gators the  best  equipment,  materials,  and  methods  to  use;  second, 
by  selecting  and  training  the  workmen  best  fitted  to  accomplish  the 
result  desired;  third,  by  determining  in  advance  a  standard  of 
achievement  for  the  workmen,  providing  them  with  the  necessary 
working  conditions,  and  rewarding  them  with  a  bonus  for  attaining 
this  standard."  The  term  "scientific  management"  (first  used  about 
1910)  originally  had  specific  reference  to  what  is  commonly  known 

[423] 


as  the  TAYLOR  SYSTEM,  but  it  has  gradually  extended  in  scope  to 
cover  not  only  various  modifications  of  the  Taylor  system  but 
certain  original  developments  in  the  same  field.  Scientific  manage- 
ment is  sometimes  referred  to  as  "industrial  engineering,"  " efficiency 
engineering,"  "business  engineering,"  etc.,  and  (less  often)  as  "task 
management."  The  usual  trade  union  hostility  toward  scientific 
management  is  based  on  various  reasons,  valid  or  otherwise,  which 
cannot  be  fully  discussed  here.  But  it  should  at  least  be  noted  that 
the  claim,  so  often  advanced  by  advocates  of  the  system,  that  scien- 
tific management  does  away  with  all  necessity  for  COLLECTIVE  BAR- 
GAINING, will  not  bear  serious  examination.  As  G.  D.  H.  Cole  points 
out,  "all  the  TIME-STUDY  in  the  world  cannot  show  how  much  ought 
to  be  paid  for  a  job.  It  can  only  show  at  most  the  length  of  time  a 
job  ought  to  take.  That  is  to  say,  it  cannot  determine  what  is  to  be 
the  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  or  of  remuneration  of  the  workers.  PIECE- 
WORK prices  are  inevitably  fixed  in  relation  to  an  assumed  standard 
of  living  of  the  worker  employed,  and  time-study  gets  one  no  further 
towards  the  determination  of  this  standard."  Scientific  manage- 
ment "  does  not,  and  can  not,  touch  the  question  of  the  proper  division 
of  the  product  between  Labor  and  Capital,  or  of  the  propriety  or 
impropriety  of  any  such  division.  It  does  nothing  to  remove  the 
need  for  collective  bargaining  and  trade  union  organization."  (For 
descriptions  of  the  chief  systems  of  scientific  management,  see 
TAYLOR  SYSTEM;  EMERSON  SYSTEM;  GANTT  SYSTEM.  For  accounts 
of  wage-payment  methods  under  scientific  management,  in  addition 
to  those  noted  in  the  above-mentioned  entries,  see  PREMIUM  BONUS 
SYSTEM;  DIFFERENTIAL  PIECE  RATE  SYSTEM;  HALSEY  PLAN; 
ROWAN  PLAN;  WEIR  PLAN;  THREE-RATE  SYSTEM  OF  WAGE  PAY- 
MENT. For  accounts  of  other  factors  in  scientific  management,  see 
FUNCTIONAL  FOREMANSHIP;  EXCEPTION  PRINCIPLE;  TIME  STUDY; 
MOTION  STUDY;  TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY;  OVER-ALL  TIME  STUDY; 
TASK;  TASK  TIME;  INSTRUCTION  CARD  SYSTEM;  ROUTING;  FIRST 
INSPECTION;  BASE  RATE;  BASE  TIME.  See  also,  SPEED-UP  SYSTEM; 
TAYLORISM;  EFFICIENCY  PAYMENTS;  FATIGUE.) 

Scientific  Socialism.  (Also  called  Marxian,  Economic,  and 
Revolutionary  Socialism.)  The  school  of  socialist  theory,  formulated 
by  Karl  Marx  in  the  COMMUNIST  MANIFESTO  (1848)  and  "Capital" 
(1867-1894),  which  has  had  the  largest  influence  upon  the  modern 
socialist  movement.  It  employs  the  historical  method  in  economic 
interpretation.  On  the  basis  of  past  changes  in  economic  organiza- 
tion, such  as  those  from  SLAVERY  to  FEUDALISM  and  from  feudalism 

[424! 


to  CAPITALISM,  according  to  Marx  two  distinct  classes  have  been 
created:  the  exploiting  and  the  exploited;  and  between  these  two 
there  must  be  inevitable  conflict  (the  CLASS  STRUGGLE),  which  would 
finally  end  in  the  overthrow  of  the  BOURGEOISIE  and  a  DICTATORSHIP 
OF  THE  PROLETARIAT.  In  his  view,  the  transference  of  the  ownership 
of  the  means  of  production  and  distribution  to  the  State  is  the 
ultimate  goal  of  the  working-class  movement;  to  achieve  the  over- 
throw of  capitalism  is  the  "historic  mission"  of  the  proletariat. 
Marx's  main  contributions  to  socialist  theory  are  (i)  his  demonstra- 
tion that  the  SOCIALIST  COMMONWEALTH  can  be  built  directly  on  cap- 
italist foundations,  and  (2)  his  dogmatic  belief  that  the  evolution  of 
capitalism  into  socialism  is  inevitable.  Scientific  socialism  scorns  the 
ideology  of  UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM,  holding  that  the  history  of  social  in- 
stitutions is  not  the  record  of  man's  moral  initiative,  but  of  ECONOMIC 
DETERMINISM — the  working  of  material  forces  obeying  immutable 
laws.  (See  SOCIALISM;  CONCENTRATION  OF  CAPITAL  THEORY;  IN- 
CREASING MISERY  THEORY;  SURPLUS  VALUE  THEORY;  EXPLOITA- 
TION; REVISIONISTS;  NEO-MARXIANS ;  BOLSHEVISM;  STATE  SOCIAL- 
ISM; CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM.) 

Scissorbill.  A  slang  term  used  mainly  by  I.  W.  W.  members 
in  the  West  in  designation  of  a  worker  who  holds  aloof  from  the  class- 
conscious  labor  movement  or  cooperates  with  the  employers  in  active 
opposition  to  that  movement. 

Scottish  Trades  Union  Congress.  A  delegate  body  repre- 
senting about  250,000  members  of  Scottish  TRADES  COUNCILS,  Scot- 
tish sections  of  British  trade  unions,  and  trade  unions  of  wholly 
Scottish  membership.  Its  organization  and  functions  are  similar  to 
those  of  the  British  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS,  and  like  that  body  it 
maintains  a  Parliamentary  Committee. 

Screening  System.  In  bituminous  coal-mining,  where  the 
method  of  CONTRACT  MINING  largely  prevails,  it  is  desirable  for  com- 
mercial reasons  that  the  coal  be  taken  out  in  fairly  large  lumps.  The 
OPERATORS  therefore  adopted  the  practice  of  running  the  coal  over 
a  screen  before  it  was  weighed,  and  paying  the  miner  only  for  the 
lump  coal  or  that  which  did  not  pass  through  the  screen.  This  prac- 
tice was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  miners,  who  maintained  that 
they  were  thus  robbed  of  a  considerable  part  of  their  legitimate 
earnings,  and  that  they  should  be  paid  for  all  coal  just  as  it  comes 
from  the  mines — what  is  called  the  " run-of-mine "  or  "mine-run" 
system.  Most  of  the  coal-mining  states  in  this  country  have  passed 

[425] 


statutes  prohibiting  the  screening  of  coal  before  it  is  weighed,  or 
fixing  the  size  of  the  screen-mesh  (known  as  "anti-screening  laws" 
or  "coal  screening  laws"),  but  in  some  cases  these  statutes  have  been 
held  unconstitutional.  In  one  state  at  least,  what  is  known  as  the 
"double-standard  basis"  has  been  fixed.  The  mine-owner  may 
elect  to  pay  on  either  a  screened-coal  or  a  run-of-mine  basis;  but 
having  made  his  choice,  he  must  stick  to  it.  Where  the  screening 
system  is  followed,  the  men  are  paid  at  a  higher  rate  than  under  the 
run-of-mine  system. 

Script  or  Script  Payments.  Pay  orders  (also  called  "store 
orders"  or  "store  pay")  issued  to  workers  in  lieu  of  wages,  which 
are  exchangeable  at  par  for  goods  in  a  COMPANY  STORE,  or  may  usually 
be  converted  into  legal  money  at  a  discount  from  their  face  value. 
The  use  of  script  is  prohibited  by  law  in  several  states,  and  is  subject 
to  considerable  restrictions  in  others.  In  cases  where  script  may  be 
used,  its  use  is  generally  guarded  by  requirements  for  cash  redemp- 
tion at  par  within  short-time  limits,  and  for  interest  payments  if  not 
redeemed  at  an  early  date.  (See  TRUCK  SYSTEM.) 

Seamen's  Act.  An  important  measure  sponsored  by  Senator 
La  Follette  and  passed  by  Congress  in  1915,  after  long  agitation 
by  Andrew  Furuseth  and  other  leaders  of  the  Seamen's  Union.  The 
Act  is  divided  into  two  sections,  one  dealing  with  the  status  of  the 
seaman  and  the  conditions  under  which  he  shall  work,  the  other  with 
provisions  for  the  safety  of  passengers  and  crew  in  case  of  shipwreck. 
The  most  important  provision  of  the  law  is  that  calling  for  the  abroga- 
tion of  treaties  for  the  apprehension  of  deserting  sailors,  and  the 
substitution  therefor  of  the  provision  that  a  sailor  deserting  his  ship 
shall  forefeit  the  effects  he  left  on  board  and  such  wages  as  may  then 
be  due  him.  Since  it  is  also  provided  that  at  any  port  where  the  ves- 
sel shall  stop,  the  seaman  shall  upon  demand  be  entitled  to  one  half 
of  the  wages  due  him,  this  really  means  that  he  may  leave  the  ship 
before  the  completion  of  the  voyage  upon  forfeiture  of  half  his  wages. 
This  applies  to  sailors  on  foreign  ships  in  American  ports  as  well  as 
on  ships  of  American  registry.  There  are  provisions  penalizing  the 
shipowner  for  failure  to  provide  adequate  accommodations  and 
wholesome  food  for  the  ship's  crew;  and  a  number  of  minor  sections. 
This  law  is  regarded  by  the  seamen  as  their  Magna  Charta ;  it  raises 
the  American  seaman  to  the  status  of  a  freeman,  and  indirectly, 
through  its  application  to  foreign  ships  in  American  ports,  it  operates 
to  make  the  foreign  sailor  a  freeman  as  well.  It  tends  also,  naturally, 
tp  make  the  American  wage  the  standard  wage  for  all  ships,  since  the 

[426] 


foreign  sailor  may  leave  his  ship  in  an  American  port  and  reship  at 
the  American  wage. 

Seasonal  Fluctuations.  The  fairly  regular  alternation  of 
busy  months  and  slack  months  in  various  trades  and  industries — 
as  for  instance,  the  winter  slackness  and  the  spring  and  summer 
activity  in  the  building  trades.  While  generally  due,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  varying  climatic  conditions,  other  factors — for 
example,  the  caprices  of  fashion — have  part  in  producing  these 
fluctuations,  which  are  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  in  industry 
as  a  whole.  They  make  for  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  total 
yearly  volume  of  UNEMPLOYMENT.  (See  CYCLICAL  FLUCTUATIONS; 
LAY-OFF  SYSTEM.) 

Seasonal  Occupations  or  Seasonal  Industries.  Those  in 
which  the  amount  of  labor  demanded  varies  widely  at  different 
seasons  of  the  year.  Wheat  harvesting  and  cloak  making  are  examples 
of  seasonal  occupations ;  in  the  first  case  because  the  product  is  perish- 
able and  must  be  moved  immediately,  and  in  the  second  case  be- 
cause of  the  effect  of  fashion  and  of  retailing  methods.  The  seasonal 
worker  must  earn  enough  during  the  busy  season  to  tide  over  the 
slack  period  or  attempt  to  find  a  secondary  occupation.  The  seasonal 
character  of  many  industries  and  occupations  makes  not  only  for  a 
considerable  increase  in  the  yearly  volume  of  UNEMPLOYMENT,  but 
for  the  permanent  creation  of  "casual"  and  "migratory"  workers  in 
large  numbers.  The  DOVETAILING  OF  SEASONAL  OCCUPATIONS,  so 
as  to  provide  continued  employment  for  workers  during  the  slack 
seasons  of  their  regular  trades,  has  been  often  proposed  as  a  desir- 
able activity  for  public  employment  exchanges.  (See  BUFFER  EM- 
PLOYMENT; SEASONAL  FLUCTUATIONS;  LABOR  OUTINGS.) 

Secession,  Secessionists.  With  specific  reference  to  trade 
unionism,  the  term  "secession"  usually  denotes  the  withdrawal  or 
separation  of  either  (i)  a  group  of  trade  unionists  from  a  local  labor 
body;  (2)  a  local  or  district  union  from  a  national  or  international 
union;  (3)  a  national  or  international  union  from  a  national  or  other 
federation.  The  individuals  involved  in  such  separation  or  with- 
drawal are  called  "secessionists."  (See  RUMP  UNION;  DUAL  UNION; 
OUTLAWS;  VACATIONISTS.) 

Second  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONALE;  INTERNA- 
TIONAL SOCIALIST  BUREAU. 

Secondary  Arbitration.     See  ARBITRATION. 

[427] 


Secondary  Boycott.    See  BOYCOTT. 
Secondary  Poverty.     See  POVERTY. 

Secretary  of  Labor.  The  chief  officer  of  the  UNITED  STATES 
DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR,  and  the  tenth  member  of  the  President's 
Cabinet.  He  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  "fostering,  promoting,  and 
developing  the  welfare  of  the  wage  earners  of  the  United  States, 
improving  their  working  conditions,  and  advancing  their  opportuni- 
ties for  profitable  employment."  He  has  power  under  the  law  to  act 
as  MEDIATOR  and  to  appoint  commissioners  of  CONCILIATION  in  labor 
disputes.  He  has  authority  to  direct  the  collecting  and  collating  of 
labor  statistics;  the  gathering  and  publication  of  information  regard- 
ing labor  interests  and  labor  controversies  in  this  and  other  countries; 
the  administration  and  supervision  of  the  IMMIGRATION  and  naturali- 
zation laws;  and  the  work  of  investigating  all  matters  pertaining  to 
the  welfare  of  children  and  child  life.  Associated  with  the  Secretary 
are  an  Assistant  Secretary,  heads  of  the  various  bureaus  and  divisions, 
and  a  number  of  lesser  officials. 

Sectionalism.  In  the  trade  union  movement,  this  term 
refers  to  the  jealousies  and  quarrels  arising  between  rival  unions  in 
the  same  craft  or  industry,  over  questions  of  JURISDICTION,  AUTON- 
OMY, etc.  The  evils  of  sectionalism  are  largely  disposed  of  by  the 
process  known  as  AMALGAMATION,  with  its  resultant  centralized 
control. 

Selbstandige  Vereine.  In  the  German  labor  movement  these 
are  independent  unions,  standing  outside  the  three  main  bodies  or 
sections  of  trade  unionism  in  Germany.  They  were  reported  to  have 
214,360  members  at  the  end  of  1918,  of  whom  90,000  belonged  to 
the  Berlin  Railwaymen's  Association. 

Self -Employment.  A  term  sometimes  used  in  connection  with 
PRODUCERS'  COOPERATION,  under  which  the  worker  is  employed  not 
by  a  private  capitalist  or  ENTREPRENEUR,  but  by  an  association  of 
which  he  himself  is  a  member. 

Self -Governing  Workshop.  Except  as  applied  to  an  industrial 
enterprise  based  on  thorough-going  principles  of  PRODUCERS'  CO- 
OPERATION, this  term  has  no  accurate  significance.  It  is  often  used, 
however,  in  designation  of  establishments  where  some  measure  of 
EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION  is  in  operation.  (See  INDUSTRIAL 
DEMOCRACY.) 

Self -Insurance.    See  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION. 

[428] 


Semi-skilled  Worker.  One  who  is  able  to  perform  a  given 
process  or  operate  a  single  machine,  bu':  who  has  not  received  such 
thorough  training  that  he  can,  for  example,  repair  the  machinery  that 
he  uses.  (See  SKILLED  WORKER;  UNSKILLED  WORKER.) 

Seniority.  The  comparative  status  of  a  worker  with  reference 
to  length  and  quality  of  service.  Workers  are  often  selected  for  pro- 
motion, or  for  assignment  to  the  more  desirable  jobs,  or  for  retention 
during  a  slack  period,  on  the  basis  of  seniority.  In  the  railroad  in- 
dustry particularly,  where  the  workers  are  generally  classified  and 
graded  in  each  department  on  this  basis,  seniority  is  an  important 
factor  with  the  individual  worker;  and  the  loss  of  seniority,  due  to 
participation  in  a  strike  or  for  other  cause,  is  considered  a  serious 
set-back. 

Separations.    See  MOBILITY  OF  LABOR. 

Serfdom  or  Villeinage.  The  second  stage  in  labor  evolution, 
following  SLAVERY.  Under  this  system,  the  serf  or  villein  was  an 
agricultural  worker,  bound  to  the  land  and  bought  and  sold  with  it, 
like  cattle.  But,  unlike  the  slave,  he  might  buy  his  freedom  by 
paying  his  master  either  annually  or  outright  a  sum  of  money  pre- 
sumably equal  to  the  value  of  his  services.  The  abolishment  of  serf- 
dom in  Russia  in  the  early  sixties  of  the  igth  century  marked  the 
end  of  this  system.  (See  FEUDALISM;  SERVILE  LABOR.) 

Service  Department.    See  WELFARE  WORK. 
Service  Director  or  Manager.    See  WELFARE  WORK. 
Service  Letter.    See  CLEARANCE  LETTER. 

Servile  Labor.  Any  system  of  labor  under  which  the  laborer 
is  not  a  free  agent,  but  is  involuntarily  bound  to  work  for  a  specified 
master  for  an  indefinite  period.  SLAVERY,  SERFDOM,  and  PEONAGE 
are  the  principal  forms  of  servile  labor.  (See  CONTRACT  LABOR; 
NATIVE  LABOR.) 

Servile  State.  An  epithet  used  by  opponents  of  SOCIALISM 
in  designation  of  the  socialized  State — one  in  which,  as  they  assert, 
there  would  be  no  room  for  individual  action  or  initiative,  all  citizens 
being  mere  dependents  or  servants  of  the  government.  In  Hilaire 
Belloc's  book  with  this  title,  the  "servile  state"  is  defined  as  "that 
arrangement  of  society  in  which  so  considerable  a  number  of  the 
families  and  individuals  are  constrained  by  positive  law  to  labor  for 
the  advantage  of  other  families  and  individuals  as  to  stamp  the  whole 
community  with  the  mark  of  such  labor." 

[429] 


Seven -Day  Week.    See  ONE  DAY'S  REST  IN  SEVEN. 
Seven -Day  Worker.    See  ONE  DAY'S  REST  IN  SEVEN. 

Sex  Unions.  While  this  term  is  usually  applied  to  women's 
trade  unions,  it  is  equally  applicable  to  those  men's  unions  which 
refuse  to  admit  women  workers. 

Shape.  The  circle  or  horseshoe  formation  which  "casual" 
LONGSHOREMEN  seeking  work  are  required  to  assume  when  they  ar- 
rive at  the  docks  each  morning,  is  so  called.  After  the  "shape"  is 
assembled,  the  foreman  or  stevedore  looks  the  men  over,  and  picks 
out  those  whom  he  wants. 

Share  Cropper.  See  CROPPER. 
Share  Tenant.  See  CROPPER. 
Sharing  of  Work.  See  WORK  SHARING. 

Shenangoes.  A  slang  term  applied  to  "down-and-out"  LONG- 
SHOREMEN who  are  capable  of  light  CASUAL  LABOR  only,  and  who 
finally  become  a  charge  upon  public  or  private  charity. 

Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law.  A  Congressional  enactment  of 
1890,  forbidding  all  combinations  in  restraint  of  interstate  and 
foreign  trade.  Under  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  DAN- 
BURY  HATTERS'  CASE,  it  was  held  that  trade  unions  came  under  the 
restrictions  of  the  act.  After  a  long  and  bitter  battle  on  the  part  of 
organized  labor,  this  liability  was  removed  by  the  CLAYTON  ACT  in 
1914. 

Shift  Boss.    See  PIT  Boss. 

Shift  Schedules.    See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Shift  System.  In  the  operation  of  CONTINUOUS  INDUSTRIES, 
and  in  other  industries  where  NIGHT  WORK  is  habitually  or  occasion- 
ally resorted  to,  it  is  necessary  to  divide  the  working  force  into  two 
or  three  groups  known  as  "shifts"  or  "turns,"  each  group  working 
but  one  period  during  the  twenty-four  hours.  Under  what  is  called 
the  "two-shift  system"  only  two  groups  of  workers  are  utilized;  and 
if  the  industry  is  a  continuous  one,  each  group  must  work  twelve 
hours  during  the  twenty-four — as  is  the  case  with  large  numbers  of 
workers  in  the  American  steel  industry.  Under  the  more  humane 
and  enlightened  "three-shift  system,"  there  are  three  groups  of 
workers,  each  group  usually  working  eight  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 

[43°] 


four.  In  some  establishments  the  same  workers  are  assigned  to  the 
same  shift  throughout  the  year;  but  in  others  the  plan  of  "rotation 
of  shifts"  is  followed — that  is  to  say,  under  the  "three-shift  system," 
for  example,  a  worker  might  be  assigned  to  the  "morning  shift"  for 
one  week  or  several  weeks,  then  to  the  "afternoon  shift"  for  a  like 
period,  and  then  to  the  "night  shift."  Where  it  is  required  that  the 
worker  be  given  a  continuous  rest  of  not  less  than  twenty-four  hours 
each  week,  it  is  necessary  in  order  not  to  interfere  with  continuous 
operation  to  devise  more  or  less  elaborate  "shift  schedules,"  and  also 
in  most  cases  to  employ  special  "relief  workers,"  who  fill  the  places 
of  those  members  of  a  shift  who  are  absent  for  a  weekly  day  of  rest. 
The  shift  system  is  sometimes  known  as  the  "  turn  system . "  "  Double 
turn"  refers  to  the  two-shift  system;  while  "single  turn"  refers  to 
the  ordinary  method  of  day  work,  in  which  the  shift  system  is  not 
used.  Among  railway  men,  telegraphers,  and  some  other  classes  of 
workers,  a  shift  is  usually  known  as  a  "trick."  Thus,  under  the  two- 
shift  system  there  would  be  what  the  workers  call  a  "day  trick"  and 
a  "night  trick."  (See  SPLIT  SHIFT;  LONG  TURN;  LOBSTER  SHIFT; 
EIGHT-HOUR  DAY;  TWO-DAY  SHIFT  SYSTEM.) 

Shinyu  Kai.     See  JAPANESE  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Shipwreck  Benefit.  Under  this  form  of  trade  BENEFIT, 
which  is  peculiar  to  the  International  Seamen's  Union,  members  are 
recompensed  to  a  certain  specified  amount  for  the  loss  of  clothes  or 
other  belongings  through  shipwreck. 

Shop.  Strictly  speaking,  a  single  unit  or  department  (such 
as  a  machine-shop,  a  foundry-room,  a  packing-room,  etc.)  of  a  fac- 
tory or  other  industrial  establishment,  the  factory  as  a  whole  being 
known  as  a  PLANT  or  WORKS.  In  common  usage,  however,  this  dis- 
tinction is  not  maintained,  and  "shop"  often  refers  to  the  establish- 
ment as  a  whole.  This  is  particularly  true  in  regard  to  such  terms 
as  "open  shop,"  "closed  shop,"  "shop  union,"  etc. 

Shop  Agreement  or  Shop  Bargain.  This,  the  simplest  form 
of  TRADE  AGREEMENT,  is  an  arrangement  arrived  at  between  the  work- 
ers in  a  single  shop  and  their  employer  or  his  representative,  in  regard 
to  such  matters  as  wages,  hours  of  work,  working  conditions,  etc. 

Shop  Bonus.     See  COLLECTIVE  BONUS  SYSTEM. 

Shop  Call.  A  custom  in  the  American  hat  industry  which 
is  said  to  go  back  to  colonial  times  and  which  existed  in  some  locali- 
ties up  to  1885.  It  is  thus  described  in  Glocker's  "Government  of 


American  Trade  Unions":  "For  many  years,  whenever  any  man; 
woman,  or  child  working  in  a  hat  factory  had  a  grievance,  he  or  she 
cried,  'Shop  called.'  Immediately  a  meeting  of  all  the  employees 
in  the  shop  was  held,  and  the  complaint  was  laid  before  them.  If  the 
grievance  was  considered  just,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait 
upon  the  employer;  and  if  this  committee  reported  a  rejection  of  its 
demands,  the  members  of  the  shop  assembled  in  meeting  decided 
whether  or  not  to  strike." 

Shop  Card.    See  UNION  SHOP  CARD. 

Shop  Chairman.  The  presiding  officer  of  a  SHOP  COMMITTEE, 
or  the  representative  of  the  workers  in  a  given  shop.  In  many  cases, 
there  is  no  practical  distinction  between  a  shop  chairman  and  a 
SHOP  STEWARD.  In  some  of  the  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS,  the  shop 
chairman  is  termed  "protective  chairman."  (See  SHOP  COLLECTOR; 
CONVENER.) 

Shop  Club.  Any  form  of  organization  that  is  limited  to  the 
workers  in  a  single  shop  or  establishment  is  commonly  so  called — 
from  the  informal  SHOP  MEETING,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  formal 
SHOP  UNION  on  the  other.  Genetically,  according  to  Professor  Hoxie, 
"the  union  was  a  shop  club;  that  is  to  say,  a  meeting  of  the  workers 
in  a  shop  or  factory  to  consider  the  wages  and  conditions  of  employ- 
ment in  the  particular  shop,  and  in  some  unions  shop  clubs  are  still 
a  recognized  part  of  the  union  machinery.  In  the  printers'  trade  it 
is  known  as  the  CHAPEL."  (See  TRADE  CLUB.) 

Shop  Collector.  In  some  labor  organizations,  especially 
those  which  still  maintain  SHOP  UNIONS,  this  is  a  union  member 
charged  with  the  collection  of  dues,  fines,  assessments,  etc.,  owing  to 
the  union  from  members  in  the  particular  shop  or  establishment 
where  the  collector  is  employed.  He  may  perform  other  duties  as 
well,  such  as  reporting  "open"  jobs  in  his  shop,  assisting  in  the 
administration  of  BENEFIT  funds,  affixing  the  UNION  LABEL,  investi- 
gating shop  grievances,  etc.  In  some  cases  his  duties  are  practically 
the  same  as  those  of  a  SHOP  CHAIRMAN  or  SHOP  STEWARD. 

Shop  Committee.  A  body  representative  of  the  workers  in 
a  single  industrial  establishment,  or  of  a  single  department  of  an 
establishment,  and  consisting  of  delegates  elected  by  vote  of  all  the 
workers.  Its  function  is  to  deal  with  the  employer  or  management 
in  regard  to  working  conditions  and  arrangements,  the  adjustment  of 
grievances,  and  similar  other  matters.  In  the  United  States  the  term 

[432] 


"shop  committee  system"  is  rather  indiscriminately  applied  to 
almost  any  plan  of  EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION,  and  generally  the 
basis  of  representation  is  for  an  entire  establishment,  rather  than 
for  separate  "shops"  or  departments.  But  in  England,  where  the 
movement  made  great  headway  during  the  recent  war,  a  shop  com- 
mittee is  always  representative  of  the  workers  in  a  single  department 
or  unit  of  an  industrial  establishment,  in  their  dealings  with  the  man- 
agement over  matters  connected  with  that  department.  It  is  thus 
carefully  differentiated  from  a  WORKS  COMMITTEE  or  works  council, 
which  represents  the  workers  of  all  departments  or  shops  of  an  indus- 
trial plant.  Shop  committees  are  of  various  kinds:  those  which, 
though  elected  largely  by  union  members,  are  not  officially  related 
to  the  union's  machinery;  those  which  have  an  organic  connection 
with  a  union;  and  those  which  have  no  connection  with  trade  unions, 
being  introduced  by  the  employer  in  connection  with  some  plan  of 
employee  representation  or  COMPANY  UNION.  As  to  functions,  most 
shop  committees  have  to  do  with  grievances,  working  conditions — 
safety,  sanitation,  hygiene,  etc. — wages,  hours  of  labor,  and  methods 
of  wage  payments.  The  effectiveness  of  the  shop  committee  lies  in 
the  fact  that  it  can  deal  with  plant  conditions  far  more  directly  and 
intimately  than  can  the  ordinary  trade  union.  For  the  adjustment 
of  minor  disputes,  grievances,  etc.,  and  as  a  means  of  bringing  the 
workers  into  direct  contact  not  only  with  the  management  but 
with  many  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  management  has  to 
deal,  it  is  an  agency  of  undoubted  value.  But  the  extravagant 
claims  often  made  that  it  gives  the  workers  a  joint  share  in  the  con- 
trol and  direction  of  industry  remain  as  yet  unsubstantiated.  Dur- 
ing the  recent  war  the  shop  committee  system  was  introduced  into 
a  number  of  large  industrial  plants  at  the  initiative  of  the  NATIONAL 
WAR  LABOR  BOARD.  (See  JOINT  SHOP  COMMITTEE;  CRAFT  COM- 
MITTEE; SHOP  COUNCIL;  SHOP  CHAIRMAN;  PIT  COMMITTEE;  SHOP 
STEWARD  MOVEMENT;  FACTORY  MANAGEMENT  IN  RUSSIA;  DIS- 
CHARGE OF  WAGE  EARNERS  IN  RUSSIA. 

Shop  Council.  In  some  establishments  the  ordinary  SHOP 
COMMITTEE  is  so  called.  Occasionally  the  term  is  used  in  specific 
designation  of  a  JOINT  SHOP  COMMITTEE. 

Shop  Crafts.  With  particular  reference  to  the  railway  in- 
dustry, these  are  the  crafts  or  occupations  carried  on  inside  the  shop 
— as  distinguished  from  the  work  of  operating  trains,  maintaining 
the  road-beds,  etc.  In  the  United  States,  there  are  six  principal  inter- 
national unions  of  railway  shop  crafts — the  machinists,  blacksmiths, 

[433] 


boilermakers,  sheet-metal  workers,  electrical  workers,  and  railway 
carmen;  all  of  these  are  affiliated  in  the  RAILWAY  EMPLOYEES'  DE- 
PARTMENT of  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

Shop  Delegate.    See  SHOP  STEWARD. 
Shop  Deputy.    See  SHOP  STEWARD. 

Shop  Meeting.  An  informal  assembly  at  regular  intervals 
of  all  workers  in  the  same  shop  or  establishment,  to  consider  matters 
relating  to  their  common  employment.  The  shop  meeting  is  the  most 
primitive  form  of  labor  organization  in  this  country,  going  back 
almost  if  not  quite  to  colonial  times;  and  it  is  still  not  uncommon 
today,  although  largely  superseded  by  the  SHOP  COMMITTEE  system. 
(See  SHOP  CALL;  SHOP  CLUB.) 

Shop  Piece  Work.     See  COLLECTIVE  PIECE  WORK. 
Shop  Representative.    See  SHOP  STEWARD. 

Shop  Steward.  In  many  British  and  American  trades,  it  has 
long  been  the  custom  to  maintain  a  workers'  official  who  looks  after 
the  local  union's  interests  in  a  particular  shop  or  establishment. 
This  official  is  generally  known  as  a  shop  steward,  although  in  certain 
trades  he  is  otherwise  designated — as  for  example,  "father  of  the 
chapel"  among  printers,  SHOP  COLLECTOR  among  cigar  makers, 
PATROLMAN  among  seamen,  etc.  "Shop  delegate,"  "shop  dep- 
uty," "shop  representative,"  "card  inspector,"  COLLECTOR,  and 
"yard  committee-man"  are  other  variants — chiefly  British.  This 
official  is  sometimes  elected  by  the  local  union,  sometimes  by  his 
fellow-workmen  in  the  same  shop  or  factory.  He  collects  the  union 
dues  of  members.  In  closed  or  union  shops  he  keeps  watch  that  only 
those  in  good  standing  with  the  union  are  permitted  to  work.  He 
reports  to  the  local  union  the  number  of  unfilled  positions  in  the 
factory.  He  detects  and  reports  any  deviation  from  the  standard 
scale  of  wages,  hours,  and  other  working  conditions  established  by  the 
society.  When  his  organization  affixes  a  label  on  union-made  goods, 
he  often  has  charge  of  distributing  and  attaching  these  labels  at  the 
factory.  In  France  the  shop  steward  is  known  as  de'Ugue'  de  V atelier — 
delegate  or  representative  of  the  workshop.  (See  SHOP  STEWARD 
MOVEMENT;  SHOP  CHAIRMAN;  TICKET  STEWARD;  WATCH  COM- 
MITTEE.) 

Shop  Steward  Movement.  An  important  phase  of  the  British 
labor  movement,  originating  on  the  Clyde  late  in  1914  and  continuing 

[434] 


to  the  present  time.  As  noted  in  the  preceding  entry,  many  British 
trade  unions  have  long  maintained  minor  officials  known  as  SHOP 
STEWARDS,  who  looked  after  the  business  affairs  and  general  interests 
of  the  union  in  shop  or  works.  With  the  outbreak  of  the  world  war 
and  the  subsequent  suspension  of  trade  union  conditions  in  many  of 
the  most  important  British  industries,  under  the  so-called  INDUSTRIAL 
TRUCE,  the  adjustment  of  shop  grievances  and  other  dealings  with 
individual  employers  fell  largely  to  the  official  shop  stewards  in  the 
various  "controlled"  establishments.  As  a  result,  their  position  and 
prestige  became  much  enhanced,  particularly  in  the  engineering  and 
shipbuilding  trades.  But  side  by  side  with  these  union  representa- 
tives there  arose  a  class  of  unofficial  shop  stewards,  appointed  not  by 
the  trade  unions  but  by  the  "rank  and  file"  workers  in  the  shop. 
These  unofficial  shop  stewards  rapidly  organized  into  works  com- 
mittees, and  elected  chairmen,  secretaries,  and  CONVENERS.  It  was 
not  long  before  they  had  become  the  recognized  representatives  of 
the  workers  in  negotiations  with  the  management  regarding  the  nu- 
merous important  questions  that  arose  in  regard  to  DILUTION,  wages 
and  methods  of  remuneration,  timekeeping,  etc.  A  national  organ- 
ization of  shop  stewards  was  formed,  at  first  mainly  for  propagandist 
purposes.  But  with  the  coming  of  peace  the  shop  stewards  have 
been  loath  to  relinquish  their  wartime  power  and  authority,  and 
their  movement  has  been  considered  a  somewhat  serious  challenge 
by  the  "regular"  trade  union  leaders.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  far 
the  shop  steward  movement  was  a  result  of  war  conditions,  and  how 
far  it  represented  a  revolt  against  cumbrous  trade  union  machinery 
and  centralized  control.  It  may  certainly  be  said  to  constitute  one 
of  the  most  important  evidences  of  the  trend  toward  WORKERS' 
CONTROL.  So  far  no  general  means  has  been  devised  for  securing 
recognition  of  the  shop  stewards'  committees  by  either  the  trade 
unions  or  the  employers,  and  the  whole  future  of  the  movement  is 
decidedly  obscure.  (See  RANK  AND  FILE  MOVEMENT;  WATCH 
COMMITTEE.) 

Shop  Stoppage.    See  STOPPAGE. 

Shop  Strike.  One  that  is  confined  to  the  workers  in  a  single 
shop  or  establishment.  Shop  strikes  are  of  most  frequent  occurrence 
among  unorganized  workers. 

Shop  Union.  An  organization  of  workers  in  a  single  shop 
or  establishment.  The  shop  union  is,  as  a  rule,  either  a  recognized 
unit  of  a  national  or  local  labor  organization,  or  an  "independent" 

[435] 


body  formed  or  fostered  by  an  employer — what  is  commonly  known 
as  a  COMPANY  UNION.  In  the  former  case,  it  sometimes  takes  the 
place  of  a  LOCAL  in  a  community  where  there  are  not  enough  members 
of  the  national  union  to  make  the  formation  of  a  local  practicable; 
and  even  where  a  local  exists,  the  shop  union  may  possess  certain 
autonomous  powers  in  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  the  calling  of 
strikes,  etc.  But  in  the  main  it  is  now  primarily  a  convenient  ad- 
ministrative unit  for  the  transaction  of  a  limited  number  of  executive 
functions  especially  delegated  to  it  by  the  local.  Certain  officials, 
elected  sometimes  by  the  shop  and  sometimes  by  the  local,  collect 
dues,  affix  the  label  to  union-made  goods,  and  perform  other  carefully 
specified  duties.  (See  SUB-LOCAL;  PRECEPTORY;  SHOP  CLUB; 
SHOP  STRIKE;  SHOP  COLLECTOR.) 

Short  Hour  Movement.  The  organized  effort,  beginning  in 
England  early  in  the  ipth  century,  and  continuing  until  the  present 
time,  to  secure  a  shorter  working  day  for  industrial  wage-earners. 
As  the  common  ideal  of  labor  has  long  been  a  working  day  limited 
to  eight  hours,  the  "short  hour  movement"  and  the  "eight-hour 
movement"  are  or  until  recently  have  been  largely  synonymous 
terms.  "On  the  side  of  the  working  population,"  according  to  the 
Report  of  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION,  "there  can  be  no 
question  respecting  the  desirability  of  fewer  hours,  from  every  stand- 
point. They  gain  not  only  in  health,  but  also  in  intelligence,  morality, 
temperance,  and  preparation  for  citizenship.  Even  in  those  cases 
where  machinery  has  not  increased  the  intensity  of  exertion,  a  long 
workday  with  the  machine,  especially  where  work  is  greatly  special- 
ized, in  many  cases  reduces  the  grade  of  intelligence.  The  old  hand- 
work shops  were  schools  of  debate  and  discussion,  and  they  are  so 
at  the  present  time  where  they  survive  in  country  districts ;  but  the 
factory  imposes  silence  and  discipline  for  all  except  the  highest.  Long 
workdays  under  such  conditions  tend  to  inertia  and  dissipation  when 
the  day's  work  is  done.  Lessening  of  hours  leaves  more  opportunity 
and  more  vigor  for  the  betterment  of  character,  the  improvement  of 
the  home,  and  for  studying  the  problems  of  citizenship.  For  these 
reasons  the  short  workday  for  working  people  brings  an  advantage 
to  the  entire  community.  ...  A  reduction  of  hours  is  the  most  sub- 
stantial and  permanent  gain  which  labor  can  secure.  In  times  of 
depression  employers  are  often  forced  to  reduce  wages,  but  very 
seldom  do  they,  under  such  circumstances,  increase  the  hours  of 
labor.  The  temptation  to  increase  hours  comes  in  times  of  pros- 
perity and  business  activity,  when  the  employer  sees  opportunity  for 

[436] 


increasing  his  output  and  profits  by  means  of  OVERTIME.  This  dis- 
tinction is  of  great  importance.  The  demand  for  increased  hours 
comes  at  a  time  when  labor  is  strongest  to  resist,  and  the  demand 
for  lower  wages  comes  at  a  time  when  labor  is  weakest.  A  gain  in 
wages  can  readily  be  offset  by  secret  agreements  and  evasions,  where 
individual  workmen  agree  to  work  below  the  scale;  but  a  reduction 
of  hours  is  an  open  and  visible  gain,  and  there  can  be  no  secret  eva- 
sion. Having  once  secured  the  shorter  working  day,  the  question  of 
wages  can  be  adjusted  from  time  to  time  according  to  the  stress  of 
the  market."  (See  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY;  Six-HouR  DAY;  HOUR 
LAWS;  STEWARD'S  THEORY  OF  WAGES.) 

Short  Time.  A  working  day  or  week  of  less  than  the  normal 
number  of  hours  established  as  the  FULL  TIME  basis  in  a  particular 
industry,  occupation,  or  industrial  plant.  Short  time  is  usually 
adopted  in  a  period  of  dull  markets  or  general  industrial  depression 
— often  as  an  expedient  in  relief  of  UNEMPLOYMENT.  As  distinguished 
from  what  is  called  "broken  time,"  it  generally  implies  a  fixed  and 
uniform  number  of  hours  per  day  and  week  whereas  under  broken 
time  the  number  of  working  hours  commonly  fluctuates  from  day  to 
day  or  from  week  to  week.  In  England,  what  is  known  as  "  organized 
short  time"  is  the  most  familiar  palliative  for  unemployment. 
According  to  Professor  Bowley,  there  is  "a  group  of  industries  in 
which  certainly  more  than  two  million  persons  are  employed,  in  which 
it  is  the  custom  to  regulate  the  working  week  in  relation  to  the 
demand  for  the  product,  employing  nearly  the  same  number  of  per- 
sons in  good  trade  and  in  bad,  but  working  short  time  when  the 
market  becomes  overstocked.  .  .  Coal-mining  is  the  most  conspicuous 
industry  of  this  group.  The  textile  trades  (cotton,  wool,  and  others) 
organize  employment  with  a  similar  result;  short  time  is  worked 
or  the  work  is  spread  out  among  the  operatives,  when  the  demand  is 
slack;  but  the  great  number  of  those  employed  in  moderately  busy 
times  draw  some  wages  nearly  every  week." 

Shutdown.  The  temporary  closing  of  an  industrial  plant, 
usually  owing  to  lack  of  business,  OVER-PRODUCTION,  or  some  other 
reason  not  directly  related  to  labor  troubles. 

Sick  Benefits.  See  DISABILITY  BENEFITS;  SICKNESS  INSUR- 
ANCE. 

Sick  Committee.    See  MALINGERING. 

Sick  Steward.  In  British  trade  unions,  a  local  official  whose 
business  it  is  to  look  after  those  members  of  his  BRANCH  who  are 

[437] 


incapacitated  for  work  by  illness  or  accident  and  who  are  conse- 
quently in  receipt  of  sick  BENEFITS. 

Sick  Worker.  It  is  a  common  practice  for  a  skilled  worker 
in  the  British  cotton  industry  to  arrange  with  an  'understudy" 
(usually  a  retired  member  of  the  "trade")  who  takes  the  place  of 
the  regular  operative  when  the  latter  is  absent  on  account  of  sickness 
or  home  emergency.  Such  an  "understudy  "  is  called  a  "sick  worker." 

Sickness  Insurance.  This,  the  commonest  form  of  SOCIAL 
INSURANCE,  protects  the  worker  in  part  at  least  for  loss  of  wages 
during  a  period  of  illness.  Besides  cash  payments,  commonly  called 
"sick  benefits,"  such  insurance  usually  provides  for  medical  aid  and 
supplies.  It  often  makes  provision  also  for  meeting  the  cost  of 
funeral  expenses,  should  the  illness  prove  fatal.  Sickness  insurance 
is  a  State  function,  on  a  compulsory  basis,  in  nearly  all  European 
countries,  the  State  as  a  rule  cooperating  with  the  existing  mutual 
"sick  benefit"  funds  of  various  kinds,  such  as  fraternal  societies, 
trade  unions,  ESTABLISHMENT  FUNDS,  etc.  In  some  countries  the  law 
has  also  brought  into  existence  new  insurance  associations,  known 
as  "local  sick  funds,"  for  the  insurance  of  persons  not  members  of 
any  other  society.  In  the  United  States  sickness  insurance  is  largely, 
if  not  wholly,  a  function  of  trade  unions,  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES, 
etc.  It  is  sometimes  known  as  "health  insurance"  and  "disability 
insurance."  Investigations  made  by  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON 
INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  led  to  the  conclusion  that  "each  of  the 
thirty-odd  million  wage-earners  in  the  United  States  loses  an  average 
of  nine  days  a  year  through  sickness.  At  an  average  of  $2  per  day, 
the  wage  loss  from  this  source  is  over  $500,000,000.  At  the  average 
cost  of  medical  expenses  ($6  per  capita  per  year)  there  is  added  to 
this  at  the  very  least,  $180,000,000."  The  Commission's  staff  also 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  "sickness  among  wage-earners  is  primarily 
the  direct  result  of  POVERTY,  which  manifests  itself  in  insufficient 
diet,  bad  housing,  inadequate  clothing,  and  generally  unfavorable 
surroundings  in  the  home.  The  surroundings  at  the  place  of  work 
and  the  personal  habits  of  the  worker  are  important  but  secondary 
factors."  (See  NATIONAL  INSURANCE  ACT;  GROUP  INSURANCE; 
MATERNITY  INSURANCE;  CAISSE  DE  SECOURS  MUTUEL.) 

Simple  Boycott.     See  BOYCOTT. 

Sindicatos  Cat61icos  (Catholic  Unions).  See  SPANISH  LABOR 
MOVEMENT. 

[438] 


Single  Arbitrator.  See  CONTINUOUS  ARBITRATION;  CON- 
CILIATION ACT. 

Single -Branch  Union.  In  England,  generally  a  small  local 
trade  union,  comprising  from  a  dozen  members  upwards,  with  the 
simplest  form  of  internal  government.  Some  of  these  unions,  how- 
ever, are  large  and  comparatively  powerful  organizations;  and  in 
at  least  one  union  (the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Paper  Makers), 
the  membership  is  not  localized  in  any  particular  district.  As  a 
rule,  single-branch  unions  are  governed  on  the  most  democratic 
basis.  To  quote  from  O'Brien's  "Labor  Organization":  "Important 
decisions  are  come  to  by  the  whole  of  the  members  voting;  and  the 
administration  is  carried  on  by  an  executive  committee  elected  from 
amongst  the  members  themselves.  This  committee  usually  consists 
of  actual  workmen  in  the  trade,  who  receive  no  remuneration  for 
their  services  to  the  union.  As  a  rule  unions  of  this  type  issue  peri- 
odical balance-sheets,  reports  and  statements,  but  do  not  issue  any 
other  literature.  Occasionally,  however,  when  the  small  local  union 
forms  part  of  a  larger  federal  organization,  the  latter  issues  reports 
of  its  own  which  contain  reports  from  the  various  single  branch 
unions  of  which  it  is  composed,  and  in  this  case  it  is  sometimes  diffi- 
cult to  say  where  a  federal  organization  of  single  branch  units  passes 
into  a  national  union  with  local  branches." 

Single  Foremanship.  The  plan  which  prevails  in  industrial 
operations  where  one  foreman  is  charged  with  all  the  details  of 
directing  and  overseeing  a  group  of  workers.  Under  SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEMENT,  this  plan  is  superseded  by  the  system  of  FUNCTIONAL 

FOREMANSHIP. 

Single -Handed  Piece  Work.     See  INDIVIDUAL  PIECE  WORK. 

Single  Tax.  The  popular  designation  for  a  theory  of  taxation 
and  of  fundamental  economic  reform,  first  fully  and  clearly  formu- 
lated by  Henry  George  (1839-1897)  in  his  famous  book,  "Progress 
and  Poverty."  The  essence  of  the  theory  is  thus  stated  by  George: 
"We  propose  to  abolish  all  taxes  save  one  single  tax  levied  on  the 
value  of  land,  irrespective  of  the  value  of  improvements  in  or  on 
it.  What  we  propose  is  not  a  tax  on  real  estate,  for  real  estate 
includes  improvements.  Nor  is  it  a  tax  on  land,  for  we  would  not 
tax  all  land,  but  only  land  having  a  value  irrespective  of  its  improve- 
ments, and  would  tax  that  in  proportion  to  that  value.  Our  tax 
involves  the  imposition  of  no  new  tax,  since  we  already  tax  land 
values  in  taxing  real  estate.  To  carry  it  out  we  have  only  to  abolish 

[439] 


all  taxes  save  the  tax  on  real  estate  and  to  abolish  all  of  that  which 
now  falls  on  buildings  or  improvements,  leaving  only  that  part  of 
it  which  now  falls  on  the  value  of  the  bare  land.  This  we  would  in- 
crease so  as  to  take  as  nearly  as  may  be  the  whole  value  of  the 
economic  rent,  or  what  is  sometimes  styled  the  'unearned  increment 
of  land  values.'"  The  wide-reaching  effects  of  such  a  method  of 
taxation  are  summarized  by  George  as  follows:  "We  hold  that  to 
tax  labor  or  its  products  is  to  discourage  industry.  We  hold  that  to 
tax  land  values  to  their  full  amount  will  render  it  impossible  for  any 
man  to  exact  from  others  a  price  for  the  privilege  of  using  those 
bounties  of  nature  in  which  all  living  men  have  an  equal  right  of  use; 
that  it  will  compel  every  individual  controlling  natural  opportunities 
to  utilize  them  by  employment  of  labor  or  abandon  them  to  others; 
that  it  will  thus  provide  opportunities  of  work  for  all  men,  and  secure 
to  each  the  full  reward  of  his  labor;  and  that  as  a  result  involuntary 
POVERTY  will  be  abolished,  and  the  greed,  intemperance,  and  vice 
that  spring  from  poverty  and  the  dread  of  poverty  will  be  swept 
away."  The  single  tax  doctrine  has  exerted  a  powerful  influence  upon 
the  labor  movement,  both  in  the  United  States  and  abroad.  Accord- 
ing to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb,  it  was  the  wide  circulation  in 
Great  Britain  of  Henry  George's  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  and  the 
subsequent  spread  among  the  town  artisans  of  his  conception  of  rent, 
which  changed  the  current  of  British  economic  views  in  the  trade 
union  world  toward  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  largely  trans- 
formed the  theories  and  policies  of  British  trade  unionism.  The 
single  tax  theory  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  "natural  taxation." 
(See  AGRARIANISM.) 

Single  Turn.    See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Sister  Union  or  Lodge.     See  LOCAL;  LODGE. 

Six -Hour  Day.  It  is  maintained  by  many  students  of  indus- 
trial affairs  and  by  a  considerable  section  of  organized  labor  that, 
under  the  proper  economic  organization,  all  necessary  industrial 
work  could  be  accomplished  without  requiring  more  than  six  hours 
of  work  each  day  from  each  worker.  With  the  increasing  acceptance 
of  the  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  in  all  civilized  countries,  the  six-hour  day  is 
even  now  being  prominently  advocated  as  a  socially  desirable  and 
ultimately  attainable  ideal.  The  six-hour  day,  in  connection  with  a 
four-shift  system,  has  been  forcibly  championed  by  one  of  the  best- 
known  of  British  manufacturers,  Lord  Leverhulme,  as  a  means  of 
increasing  the  productive  capacity  of  industry. 

[440] 


Sixteen -Hour  Law.  A  Congressional  enactment  of  March  4, 
1907,  applying  to  all  "persons  actually  engaged  in  or  connected  with 
the  movement  of  any  train"  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  any 
territory  of  the  United  States,  or  on  interstate  lines.  By  this  act 
working  hours  are  limited  to  sixteen  a  day,  with  certain  provisions 
for  REST  PERIODS  ;  but  no  train-despatcher,  telegrapher,  or  any  em- 
ployee who  transmits  messages  or  orders  by  telegraph  or  telephone 
"shall  be  required  or  permitted  to  be  or  to  remain  on  duty  for  a  longer 
period  than  nine  hours"  in  places  continuously  operated  day  and 
night,  nor  for  more  than  thirteen  hours  in  places  operated  only  during 
the  daytime.  OVERTIME  in  cases  of  emergency,  which  is  carefully 
defined  in  the  act,  may  be  permitted  for  four  additional  hours  on  not 
more  than  three  days  a  week.  The  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission is  charged  with  the  duty  of  enforcing  the  act. 

Skilled  Worker.  One  who  has  passed  through  a  period  of 
APPRENTICESHIP  or  industrial  training  for  his  trade,  and  is  competent 
to  undertake  any  process  and  meet  any  technical  requirements  con- 
nected with  it.  Skilled  workers,  strongly  organized  in  national 
CRAFT  UNIONS,  compose  in  largest  part  the  American  trade  union 
movement.  (See  JOURNEYMAN;  SEMI-SKILLED  WORKER;  UNSKILLED 
WORKER.) 

Slavery.  Although  representing  the  most  primitive  stage  in 
labor  evolution,  the  authorized  practice  of  holding  human  beings  in 
forced  subjection  and  bondage  really  survived  SERFDOM  (the  second 
stage)  by  a  quarter-century,  its  final  disappearance  as  a  recognized 
social  institution  being  marked  by  the  abolishment  of  slavery  by 
Brazil  in  1888.  Although  nowhere  explicitly  recognized  under  the 
law,  slavery  is  still  to  be  found  in  certain  tropical  and  sub-tropical 
countries;  while  in  its  present-day  survival,  PEONAGE,  it  exists  on  a 
considerable  scale  in  South  America,  Mexico,  and  the  southern  sec- 
tion of  the  United  States.  (See  SERVILE  LABOR;  NATIVE  LABOR; 
WAGE  SLAVERY.) 

Sliding  Scale.  An  arrangement  by  which  it  is  agreed  in  ad- 
vance that  wages  shall  vary  in  a  definite  relation  to  changes  in  the 
market  price  of  the  product.  The  principle  that  "prices  should  rule 
wages"  was  first  adopted  in  the  English  iron  trades  a  half  century 
ago,  and  has  since  been  widely  introduced  in  the  coal-mining  indus- 
try, as  well  as  the  iron  and  steel  trades.  In  the  latter  trades  in  this 
country,  under  the  sliding  scale  system,  a  rate  of  wages  is  agreed 
upon  for  each  position,  to  be  governed  by  the  scale,  and  then  a  selling 

[44i] 


price  for  the  material  is  selected  as  being  a  fair  minimum  price  while 
that  particular  rate  of  wages  is  paid;  a  percentage  of  advance  in  the 
selling  price  of  the  material  is  then  listed  as  requiring  a  slight  per- 
centage of  advance  in  the  wages  of  the  men  in  the  several  positions. 
The  ratio  of  advance  in  wages  is  thus  listed  with  the  advance  in  ma- 
terial until  the  probable  highest  figure  the  material  will  sell  at  has 
been  reached.  A  corresponding  reduction  of  wages  is  agreed  to  as  the 
material  recedes  in  price.  But  a  minimum  price  is  usually  fixed  as 
representing  a  stopping  point  in  the  decline  in  wages;  and  although 
the  employer  is  free  to  sell  his  material  lower  than  the  minimum,  he  is 
not  permitted  to  make  a  further  reduction  in  wages. 

Small  Master.    See  LITTLE  MASTER. 

Smooting.  In  British  labor  slang,  the  practice  on  the  part 
of  an  individual  laborer  of  working  for  a  second  employer  after  putting 
in  a  full  day's  work  at  his  regular  employment.  This  practice,  which 
is  forbidden  by  the  trade  unions,  is  also  known  as  "foxing"  and 
"grassing." 

Snap  Time.  An  English  term,  denoting  a  brief  interval  for 
refreshments  allowed  during  the  daily  work  period. 

Social  Democratic  Federation.  This,  the  original  British 
society  devoted  to  Marxian  SOCIALISM,  was  formed  in  1881,  under 
the  leadership  of  H.  M.  Hyndman,  who  is  still  prominent  in  the 
organization.  In  1911  it  was  temporarily  absorbed  into  the  British 
Socialist  Party,  but  in  1916  it  reappeared  under  the  name  of  the 
National  Socialist  Party.  It  has  lately  resumed  its  original  title. 

Social  Democratic  Unions.  In  many  of  the  continental 
European  countries,  the  majority  element  in  the  labor  movement  is 
organized  on  the  political  side  in  parties  which  use  the  term  "Social 
Democrat "  in  their  titles.  The  trade  unions  affiliated  in  these  parties 
are  therefore  commonly  known  as  "Social  Democratic  unions." 
Both  the  political  parties  and  the  trade  unions  of  "Social  Democrats" 
are  strongly  socialistic  in  aims  and  policies,  though  their  socialism 
is  usually  of  the  moderate  or  right-wing  variety.  They  are  opposed 
by  both  the  CHRISTIAN  UNIONS  and  (generally)  the  communist 
organizations. 

Social  General  Strike.    See  GENERAL  STRIKE. 

Social  Insurance.  A  general  designation  for  all  forms  of 
insurance  which  seek  to  indemnify  the  working  classes  for  losses 

[442] 


resulting  from  the  hazards  of  modern  industry,  and  to  protect  them 
against  the  extreme  effects  of  POVERTY.  In  its  commonest  forms, 
it  consists  of  sickness,  accident,  unemployment,  invalidity,  and  old 
age  insurance,  and  it  includes  also  the  pensioning  of  dependent 
widows  and  orphans.  In  addition,  MATERNITY  INSURANCE  and 
DEATH  BENEFITS  are  usually  classed  as  forms  of  social  insurance. 
While  active  constructive  aid  or  interference  by  the  State  is  generally 
regarded  as  a  basic  principle  of  social  insurance,  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  such  insurance  (particularly  in  the  United  States)  is  of 
the  "voluntary  mutual"  sort — that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  function  of 
trade  unions,  fraternal  orders,  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES,  ESTABLISH- 
MENT FUNDS,  etc.  This  is  the  first  stage  in  the  development  of  social 
insurance.  The  second  stage  is  represented  by  the  "voluntary 
subsidized  State"  method,  under  which  the  private  mutual  organi- 
zations receive  a  financial  subsidy  from  some  public  authority 
(municipal,  district,  or  State),  with  or  without  some  measure  of  pub- 
lic control.  The  third  stage,  and  the  one  toward  which  all  social 
insurance  schemes  ultimately  aim,  is  the  "compulsory  subsidized 
State"  method,  under  which  social  insurance  is  a  function  of  the 
State,  the  obligation  to  insure  being  compulsory  on  the  worker's 
part.  In  nearly  all  European  countries  social  insurance,  in  one  or 
several  of  its  various  departments,  is  conducted  as  a  State  enter- 
prise, usually  under  what  is:  known  as  the  "contributory  plan," 
the  fund  from  which  BENEFITS  or  pensions  are  paid  being  formed 
from  small  weekly  contributions  of  both  workers  and  employers, 
supplemented  by  State  aid.  Under  all  three  plans  of  social  insurance, 
the  payment  of  benefits  is  usually  in  periodical  installments,  although 
in  some  forms  the  ' '  lump-sum ' '  plan  of  payment  is  followed.  Medical 
aid  and  supplies  are  often  provided,  in  addition  to  the  cash  payments. 
In  the  United  States,  the  only  form  of  State  insurance  that  has  been 
generally  adopted  is  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION,  or  insurance  against 
industrial  accidents.  Social  insurance  is  sometimes  referred  to  as 
"workmen's  insurance"  and  "industrial  insurance,"  although  the 
latter  term  is  more  commonly  used  to  denote  a  special  form  of  com- 
mercial insurance  which  is  described  under  its  proper  heading  in 
the  present  volume.  (See  MUTUAL  INSURANCE;  NATIONAL  IN- 
SURANCE ACT;  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  IN  RUSSIA;  MASSACHUSETTS 
SAVINGS  BANK  INSURANCE  AND  PENSION  SYSTEM;  SICKNESS  INSUR- 
ANCE; UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE;  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE;  INVALID- 
ITY INSURANCE;  WIDOWS'  AND  ORPHANS'  INSURANCE;  MOTHERS' 
PENSIONS;  BERUFSGENNOSSENSCHAFTEN;  GROUP  INSURANCE;  WAIT- 
ING PERIOD;  MALINGERING.) 

[443  1 


Social  Insurance  in  Russia.  Until  the  revolution  of  1917, 
Russia  was  perhaps  the  most  backward  country  in  Europe  in  the  mat- 
ter of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE.  While  no  very  definite  information  is 
available  on  the  subject,  the  Soviet  government  seems  to  have  estab- 
lished the  principle  of  compulsory  State  insurance  for  a  1  workers 
without  distinction  of  sex,  nationality,  or  occupation,  provided 
they  earn  their  living  by  their  own  labor  and  do  not  exploit  the  labor 
of  others.  Insurance  is  extended  to  all  forms  of  incapacitation, 
whether  permanent  or  temporary,  and  from  whatever  cause — age 
(youth  or  old  age),  illness,  accident,  maternity,  or  involuntary  un- 
employment. DEATH  BENEFITS  are  also  included.  For  involuntary 
unemployment  or  complete  temporary  disability,  a  subsidy  equal  to 
the  full  remuneration  fixed  for  the  worker's  particular  group  and 
category  is  paid.  In  case  of  partial  disability,  the  amount  paid  varies 
according  to  the  degree  of  disability.  Maternity  subsidies  are  paid 
for  eight  weeks  before  and  eight  weeks  after  the  birth  of  a  child. 
Pensions  for  total  disability,  or  invalidity,  vary  in  amount  according 
to  the  average  wages  of  the  trade  in  the  locality  concerned,  but 
may  be  increased  in  special  cases.  A  factory  worker  on  reaching  the 
age  of  fifty  automatically  receives  a  pension;  workers  in  less  exhaust- 
ing occupations  receive  pensions  at  sixty.  All  of  these  subsidies  are 
paid  out  of  special  local  funds,  the  central  management  of  which  is 
vested  in  an  appointed  body  called  the  All-Russian  Insurance  Centre. 

Social  Revolution.  As  used  by  most  social  reformers,  this 
term  denotes  the  change  from  the  present  economic  system  to  that 
of  the  SOCIALIZED  STATE  or  the  SOCIALIST  COMMONWEALTH.  It  does 
not  necessarily  imply  any  idea  of  violence,  but  merely  fundamental 
reversal  or  reconstruction  of  the  existing  order,  effected  by  political 
and  educational  methods.  (See  SOCIALISM.) 

Social  Secretary.    See  WELFARE  SUPERVISION. 

Social  Union.  A  form  of  English  WORKS  organization,  made 
up  of  and  managed  entirely  by  the  workers  of  a  sing  e  establishment, 
and  devoted  to  purely  "social"  purposes.  Through  an  elected  com- 
mittee, the  social  union  arranges  for  games,  recreations,  study- 
circles,  picnics,  and  the  like.  (See  WELFARE  COMMITTEE.) 

Socialdemokratiska  Arbetare-Partiet  (Swedish  Social  Demo- 
cratic Labor  Party).  See  LANDSORGANISATION  i  SVERGE. 

Socialdemokratiske  Forbund  (Danish  Social  Democratic 
Federation).  See  DE  SAMVIRKENDE  FAGFORBUND  i  DANMARK. 

[444] 


Socialism.  Derived  from  the  Latin  word  socius,  meaning 
"a  comrade."  There  are  almost  as  many  definitions  of  socialism  as 
there  are  writers  on  the  subject.  At  the  outset,  however,  it  should  be 
emphasized  that  the  term  denotes  a  principle  of  social  action  rather 
than  any  elaborately  formulated  plan  of  society.  Like  everything 
else  that  is  vital,  says  Bertrand  Russell,  "it  is  rather  a  tendency 
than  a  strictly  definable  body  of  doctrine.  A  definition  of  socialism 
is  sure  either  to  include  some  views  which  many  would  regard  as  not 
socialistic,  or  to  exclude  others  which  claim  to  be  included.  But  I 
think  we  shall  come  nearest  to  the  essence  of  socialism  by  defining 
it  as  the  advocacy  of  communal  ownership  of  land  and  capital." 
According  to  Morris  Hillquit,  "socialism  advocates  the  transfer  of 
ownership  in  the  social  tools  of  production — the  land,  factories,  ma- 
chinery, railroads,  mines,  etc. — from  the  individual  capitalists  to 
the  people,  to  be  operated  for  the  benefit  of  all."  Finally,  to  quote 
an  English  authority,  Thomas  Kirkup,  the  cardinal  principle  of  social- 
ism is  that  industry,  instead  of  being  carried  on  as  at  present  "by 
private  capitalists  served  by  wage  labor,  must  in  the  future  be  con- 
ducted by  associated  or  cooperating  workmen  jointly  owning  the 
means  of  production."  It  is  this  central  fact  of  communal  ownership 
of  the  tools  or  means  of  production  that  must  be  kept  continually  in 
the  mental  foreground  by  all  who  really  wish  to  understand  the  actual 
significance  of  socialism.  The  chief  divergences  between  the  various 
schools  of  socialism  relate  rather  to  method  and  degree  than  to  funda- 
mental basis.  "Some  socialists,"  according  to  Bertrand  Russell, 
"expect  communal  ownership  to  arrive  suddenly  and  completely  by 
&  catastrophic  revolution,  while  others  expect  it  to  come  gradually, 
first  in  one  industry,  then  in  another.  Some  insist  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  completeness  in  the  acquisition  of  land  and  capital  by  the 
public,  while  others  would  be  content  to  see  lingering  islands  of  pri- 
vate ownership,  provided  they  were  not  too  extensive  or  powerful. 
What  all  forms  have  in  common  is  democracy  and  the  abolition, 
virtual  or  complete,  of  the  present  capitalistic  system."  The  dis- 
tinction between  socialism,  ANARCHISM,  and  SYNDICALISM,  as  well  as 
between  some  of  the  leading  schools  of  socialism,  turns  largely  upon 
the  form  of  democracy  in  the  future  social  commonwealth.  To  quote 
Mr.  Russell  again:  "Orthodox  socialists  are  content  with  parlia- 
mentary democracy  in  the  sphere  of  government,  holding  that  the 
evils  apparent  in  this  form  of  constitution  at  present  would  disappear 
with  the  disappearance  of  CAPITALISM.  Anarchists  and  syndicalists, 
on  the  other  hand,  object  to  the  whole  parliamentary  machinery, 
and  aim  at  a  different  method  of  regulating  the  political  affairs  of  the 

[445] 


community.  But  all  alike  are  democratic  in  the  sense  that  they  aim 
at  abolishing  every  kind  of  privilege  and  every  kind  of  artificial  in- 
equality: all  alike  are  champions  of  the  wage-earner  in  existing  so- 
ciety. All  three  regard  capital  and  the  WAGE  SYSTEM  as  a  means  of 
exploiting  the  laborer  in  the  interests  of  the  possessing  classes,  and 
hold  that  communal  ownership,  in  one  form  or  another,  is  the  only 
means  of  bringing  freedom  to  the  producers."  Socialism,  COMMUN- 
ISM, and  anarchism  are  thus  briefly  differentiated  by  Professor  R.  T. 
Ely:  "Socialism  holds  that  justice  in  the  distribution  of  the  good 
things  of  life  is  to  be  attained  in  common  and  systematic  production 
in  a  re-created  State,  where  men  shall  receive  the  means  of  enjoyment 
in  proportion  to  the  service  they  have  rendered  to  society.  Commu- 
nism presupposes  a  like  transformation,  but  seeks  justice  in  equality; 
while  anarchism  would  abolish  all  existing  compulsory  institutions, 
and  would  let  men  freely  build  such  social  structures  as  inclination 
and  uncontrolled  desire  might  prompt."  The  socialist  movement, 
long  a  slowly  swelling  tide,  has  now  become  a  huge  and  turbulent 
rapids  which  has  largely  engulfed  the  labor  movement  in  many 
countries.  It  is  a  movement  that  changes  swiftly  from  day  to  day — 
one  in  which  exact  classification,  identification,  and  differentiation 
are  virtually  impossible  under  the  plan  of  such  a  book  as  this.  (For 
principal  references  to  socialism,  see  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM;  STATE 
SOCIALISM;  GUILD  SOCIALISM;  BOLSHEVISM;  CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM; 
UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM;  COLLECTIVISM;  OWENISM;  SAINT-SIMONISM; 
FOURIERISM;  MUTUALISM;  MUNICIPAL  SOCIALISM;  SOCIALIZATION; 
INTERNATIONALE  ;  together  with  the  various  cross  references  under 
these  headings.) 

Socialism  of  Institutions.  The  name  given  by  a  French 
writer,  H.  Lagardelle,  to  SYNDICALISM.  The  term  expresses  the  fun- 
damental character  of  that  philosophy,  as  implying  the  development 
by  the  working-class  of  its  own  social  institutions,  to  supplant  those 
now  existing. 

Socialism  of  the  Chair.     See  SOCIALISTS  OF  THE  CHAIR. 

Socialist  Commonwealth.  A  name  sometimes  given  to  the 
form  of  society  which  SOCIALISM  has  for  its  goal — one  in  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word,  all  social  "wealth"  would 
be  held  in  "common,"  for  the  benefit  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 
(See  COOPERATIVE  COMMONWEALTH  ;  LABOR  CHECKS  ;  SOCIAL  REVO- 
LUTION.) 

Socialist  Internationale.     See  INTERNATIONALE. 

[446] 


Socialist  Labor  Party  of  Great  Britain.  Organized  in  1903, 
as  a  secession  movement  of  left-wing  elements  from  the  SOCIAL 
DEMOCRATIC  FEDERATION.  It  advocates  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM  of 
a  revolutionary  kind,  excludes  from  membership  all  trade  union 
officials  and  members  of  other  socialist  organizations,  and  refuses  to 
affiliate  with  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY.  The  Party  played  a  prom- 
inent part  in  the  SHOP  STEWARD  MOVEMENT  during  the  war. 

Socialist  Labor  Party  of  North  America.  Organized  in 
1877  as  the  Workingmen's  Party  of  America,  this  body  was  for 
nearly  a  quarter-century  the  leading  socialist  organization  of  America. 
Its  main  efforts  have  been  to  carry  SOCIALISM  to  the  workers  in  labor 
unions.  In  1898  the  Party  declared  war  on  the  AMERICAN  FEDERA- 
TION OP  LABOR.  This  act  antagonized  many  workers  against  social- 
ism for  years;  it  also  caused  the  Party's  most  influential  elements 
to  withdraw,  later  to  form  a  separate  organization — the  SOCIALIST 
PARTY  OF  AMERICA.  Since  then  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  has  steadily 
declined,  and  today  it  has  little  but  historical  significance.  It  has 
always  stood  strongly  for  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM.  (See  INDUSTRIAL 
WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD.) 

Socialist  Party  of  America.  This,  the  leading  American 
socialist  organization,  was  launched  in  1901,  largely  as  a  secession 
movement  from  the  SOCIALIST  LABOR  PARTY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 
It  is  devoted  to  a  programme  of  immediate  political  issues  as  well 
as  of  ultimate  economic  reforms,  and  places  its  own  candidates  in 
the  field  at  all  important  municipal,  state,  and  national  elections. 
Branches  of  the  Party  are  now  established  in  several  hundred 
American  cities  and  towns;  these  branches  are  affiliated  in  local, 
state,  and  "language"  federations.  A  national  executive  committee 
of  seven  members  is  in  charge  of  the  routine  management,  all  impor- 
tant matters  of  policy  being  decided  by  the  annual  convention.  In 
1914  the  Party  condemned  the  European  war,  extending  sympathy 
to  the  workers  in  all  belligerent  countries.  In  April,  1917,  at  an 
emergency  convention  held  in  St.  Louis,  it  adopted  the  famous 
"St.  Louis  platform"  in  opposition  to  American  participation  in 
the  war  and  to  conscription.  A  number  of  pro-war  members  then 
withdrew,  and  later  formed  the  AMERICAN  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC 
LEAGUE.  In  1919  the  more  radical  groups  within  the  party  seceded 
and  organized  the  American  COMMUNIST  PARTY  and  the  Communist 
Labor  Party  of  North  America.  This  latter  body  existed  but  a  few 
months ;  it  now  forms  the  principal  element  in  the  UNITED  COMMUNIST 
PARTY.  With  these  more  radical  elements  eliminated,  the  Socialist 

[447] 


Party  now  represents  the  moderate  or  constitutional  wing  of  Amer- 
ican socialism.  It  polled  nearly  one  million  votes  in  the  Presidential 
election  of  1920,  but  has  only  about  17,000  dues-paying  members. 

Socialist  Party  of  Canada.  See  CANADIAN  LABOR  ORGANI- 
ZATIONS. 

Socialists  of  the  Chair.  In  1871  a  German  writer  applied 
the  term  Kaiheder  Sozialister  (academic  socialists  or  socialists  of  the 
chair)  to  certain  professors  of  political  economy  with  mild  socialistic 
leanings.  The  term  soon  passed  into  other  countries  as  a  designation 
for  those  who  favor  a  moderate  expansion  of  the  paternalistic  State, 
with  the  least  possible  disturbance  to  existing  institutions.  Their 
philosophy,  which  is  at  best  a  diluted  form  of  STATE  SOCIALISM,  is 
usually  called  "academic  socialism"  or  "professorial  socialism." 

Socialization.  As  the  central  ideal  or  objective  of  the  moderate 
socialist-labor  groups  in  all  countries,  the  meaning  and  implications 
of  socialization  are  well  expressed  in  the  following  statement,  forming 
part  of  a  resolution  adopted  at  the  Geneva  (1920)  Congress  of  the 
second  INTERNATIONALE:  "By  Socialization  we  understand  the 
transformation  from  ownership  and  control  by  capitalists  to  owner- 
ship and  control  by  the  community  of  all  the  industries  and  services 
essential  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  people's  needs:  the  substitution, 
for  the  wasteful  production  and  distribution  with  the  sole  object  of 
private  profit,  of  efficient  production  and  economical  distribution, 
with  the  object  of  the  greatest  possible  utility;  the  transformation, 
also,  from  the  economic  servitude  of  the  great  mass  of  the  actual 
producers  under  private  ownership,  to  a  general  participation  in 
management  by  the  persons  engaged  in  the  work.  ...  In  a  community 
of  highly  developed  economic  life,  with  an  extensive  population  largely 
aggregated  in  urban  centres,  Socialization  takes  three  main  forms — 
namely,  national,  municipal,  and  cooperative.  For  instance,  what- 
ever may  be  provided  for  the  administration  of  agriculture,  the 
ownership  of  land  should  be  national,  provision  being  made  for  the 
maintenance  and  security  of  peasant  cultivators,  wherever  such 
exist.  Other  industries  of  supreme  national  importance,  such  as 
the  transport  system,  the  generation  of  electricity,  and  mines, 
should  also  be  national.  But  the  management  of  a  large  number  of 
industries  and  services  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  municipalities  and 
other  local  authorities,  and  federations  of  these,  not  only  the  pro- 
vision of  water  and  gas  and  the  distribution  of  electricity,  but  also, 
in  some  countries,  the  provision  of  food,  clothing,  and  housing.  The 

[448] 


production  and  distribution  of  household  supplies  of  every  kind 
will  form,  for  the  most  part,  the  sphere  of  the  consumers'  cooperative 
societies.  ...  A  principle  of  the  greatest  importance  in  Socialization 
is  that  control  must  be  separated  from  administration.  The  control 
will  be  exercised  by  the  popularly  elected  national  assembly.  The 
organs  of  administration  in  each  industry  or  service  must  be  entirely 
separate  and  distinct  from  those  of  the  political  government."  (See 
NATIONALIZATION;  SOCIALIZED  STATE.) 

Socialized  State.  One  in  which  the  SOCIALIZATION  of  industry 
has  been  accomplished,  under  a  socialistic  regime.  (See  SOCIALIST 
COMMONWEALTH;  SERVILE  STATE;  SOCIAL  REVOLUTION.) 

Societa  di  Lavoro.  Cooperative  labor  societies  in  Italy,  which 
perform  public  and  private  work  under  contract.  They  are  numerous 
and  of  considerable  importance,  including  many  kinds  of  workmen, 
and  have  executed  large  public  works  both  in  Italy  and  in  foreign 
countries.  The  societa  di  lavoro  are  financed  by  FRIENDLY  SOCIETIES, 
people's  banks,  private  savings  banks,  etc.  Many  of  them  accumu- 
late funds  from  which  they  pay  old  age  pensions,  sick  and  invalidity 
benefits,  etc.,  to  their  members.  (See  COOPERATIVE  EMPLOYMENT.) 

Societa  di  Mutuo  Soccorso.    See  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES. 

Societes  Compagnonniques.  Secret  trade  unions  which 
flourished  in  France  during  the  period,  ending  in  1884,  when  open 
associations  of  industrial  workers  were  prohibited  by  law.  They 
rendered  services  to  their  members  equal  and  sometimes  superior 
to  the  modern  authorized  trade  organizations. 

Societes  de  Secours  Mutuels.    See  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES. 

Society.  In  Great  Britain,  trade  unions  are  very  generally 
known  as  "societies"  or  "trade  societies."  In  this  sense  the  word 
is  used  in  various  connections — a  "society  man"  is  a  union  member, 
a  "society  house"  is  an  establishment  where  union  conditions  pre- 
vail, "society  rules"  are  union  rules,  and  so  forth. 

Soldier's  Penny.    See  Sou  DU  SOLDAT. 

Soldiering.  In  labor  parlance,  working  slowly,  half-heartedly, 
or  in  an  inefficient  way.  Unlike  CA'  CANNY  and  other  similar  forms 
of  SABOTAGE,  " soldiering"  generally  denotes  mere  individual  laziness 
or  slowness,  expressing  unconscious  dissatisfaction  rather  than  any 
deliberate  policy  on  the  worker's  part. 

1449] 


Solidarity.  A  term  much  used  among  the  working  classes, 
as  expressive  of  a  common  fellowship  and  common  interests,  aims, 
and  action.  It  denotes  the  condition  of  a  social  or  economic  group 
in  which  the  individuals  are  in  practical  effect  "members  one  of 
another,"  with  common  interests  and  aims  in  the  fundamental 
things  of  life.  The  familiar  labor  mottoes,  "Each  for  all  and  all  for 
each"  and  "An  injury  to  one  is  an  injury  to  all,"  summarize  the 
spirit  of  solidarity.  (See  CLASS  CONSCIOUSNESS.) 

Sou  du  Soldat  (Soldier's  Penny).  In  France,  a  common  trade 
union  BENEFIT  in  the  form  of  a  small  quarterly  sum  (generally  five 
francs)  paid  to  unionists  while  they  are  performing  their  compulsory 
military  service.  While  ostensibly  intended  to  keep  the  conscript 
attached  to  his  trade  union,  the  sou  du  soldat  has  become  a  powerful 
weapon  of  anti-militarism. 

South  African  Council  of  Organized  Workers.  See  SOUTH 
AFRICAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

South  African  Industrial  Federation.  A  federation  of  the 
principal  trade  unions  of  the  Transvaal.  As  one  of  its  main  activities, 
the  Federation  has  established  a  chain  of  cooperative  stores  and  has 
organized  the  South  African  Industrial  Federation  Cooperative 
Development  Co.,  which  is  authorized  to  engage  in  any  business  or 
transaction,  as  cooperative  producers,  manufacturers,  and  dis- 
tributors, that  may  seem  to  the  company  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
ducive to  its  interests.  (See  SOUTH  AFRICAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

South  African  Labor  Movement.  The  workers  of  South 
Africa  are  divided  into  two  main  groups:  (i)  A  minority  of  skilled 
white  workers,  relatively  well  paid  and  organized;  and  (2)  a  large 
colored  majority,  very  badly  paid  and  for  the  most  part  unorganized. 
The  white  craftsmen  exclude  colored  labor  from  the  skilled  trades 
and  are  indifferent  if  not  hostile  to  organization  efforts  on  the  part 
of  colored  workers.  Trade  unionism  in  South  Africa  was  estimated 
in  1920  to  cover  about  80,000  members,  organization  being  strongest 
in  the  mining,  building,  and  engineering  trades.  The  SOUTH  AFRICAN 
INDUSTRIAL  FEDERATION  is  the  principal  national  federation.  In 
1920  a  Council  of  Organized  Workers  was  formed,  which  unites  the 
professional  and  technical  workers.  Colored  labor  unions  have  begun 
to  develop  under  conditions  of  great  difficulty,  and  in  July,  1920, 
at  a  convention  in  Bloemfontein,  it  was  decided  to  form  a  Non- 
European  Workers'  Federation.  The  political  interests  of  South 
African  white  labor  are  principally  represented  by  the  South  African 
Labor  Party,  established  in  1909. 

[450] 


South  African  Labor  Party.  See  SOUTH  AFRICAN  LABOR 
MOVEMENT. 

Southwestern  District.     See  INTERSTATE  JOINT  CONFERENCES 

IN  THE  COAL-MINING  INDUSTRY. 

Sovereigns  of  Industry.  An  American  working-class  organ- 
ization, representing  mainly  the  cooperative  movement,  which  existed 
from  1874  to  1878.  It  was  a  secret  order,  with  a  system  of  national, 
state,  and  subordinate  councils.  It  absorbed  many  independent 
labor  organizations  of  its  time,  and  attained  a  membership  of  about 
40,000 — mostly  in  the  New  England  states.  (See  TRADE  UNION 
COOPERATION.) 

Soviet  System  or  Sovietism.  "Soviet"  is  a  Russian  word 
meaning  "council."  The  soviet  idea  in  Russia  dates  back  to  the 
revolution  of  1905,  when  it  was  adopted  on  a  small  scale  by  revolu- 
tionary industrial  groups  in  Petrograd;  but  it  was  not  until  after  the 
revolution  of  March,  1917,  that  it  assumed  any  widespread  propor- 
tions. The  Soviets  then  formed  in  the  cities  were  somewhat  similar 
in  character  to  the  CITY  CENTRAL  labor  bodies  in  this  country.  They 
were  made  up  of  delegates  from  trades,  factory  committees,  and  pro- 
fessional and  industrial  groups,  thus  differing  from  the  local  political 
government,  where  representation  is  based  on  geographical  units. 
In  the  rural  districts,  where  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation consisted  of  peasants,  representation  was  more  likely  to  be 
based  on  residence.  Through  a  system  of  local,  district,  and  national 
organization,  the  soviet  is  now  the  organ  of  direct  proportional  repre- 
sentation in  Russia.  Its  distinctive  and  fundamental  feature  is  repre- 
sentation for  the  individual  on  the  basis  of  occupation  rather  than  on 
residence,  and  for  groups  on  the  basis  of  industries  rather  than  on 
territorial  areas.  Thus,  what  is  commonly  called  "sovietism"  is  in 
essence  simply  a  governmental  system  based  on  the  principle  of 
economic  rather  than  geographical  representation.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  germ  of  the  soviet  idea,  as  Lenin  and  other  Russian 
leaders  have  acknowledged  was  formulated  many  years  ago  by  an 
American — Daniel  De  Leon,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  original 
INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD.  (See  BOLSHEVISM;  BOM- 
BACCI  PLAN.) 

Sozialdemokratische  Arbeiterpartei  in  Deutschosterreich. 

See  GEWERKSCHAFTSKOMMISSION  DEUTSCHOSTERREICHS. 

Spanish  General  Confederation  of  Labor.  See  CONFEDER- 
ACION  GENERAL  DEL  TRABAJO. 

l45i] 


Spanish  General  Union  of  Workers.  See  UNION  GENERAL 
DE  TRABAJADORES. 

Spanish  Labor  Movement.  Although  a  fairly  strong  Spanish 
section  of  the  first  INTERNATIONALE  was  constituted  in  1870,  labor 
organization  in  Spain  had  not  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  recent  war 
progressed  to  a  point  where  it  played  an  effective  part  in  the  social 
and  economic  life  of  the  country.  But  organization  has  increased  at 
a  tremendous  rate  during  the  past  few  years,  and  Spain  is  now  in 
many  respects  the  chief  storm  centre  of  the  European  labor  move- 
ment. The  doctrines  of  ANARCHISM  and  SYNDICALISM  have  always 
been  potent  among  a  considerable  section  of  Spanish  workers,  and 
revolutionary  syndicalism  is  today  the  dominant  force  in  the  prin- 
cipal industrial  region — the  province  of  Catalonia,  with  Barcelona 
as  its  centre.  Moderate  labor  and  socialist  activities  centre  around 
Madrid.  Organized  labor  in  Spain  is  represented  by  three  main 
bodies  or  groups:  (i)  The  CONFEDERACION  GENERAL  DEL  TRABAJO, 
devoted  to  revolutionary  syndicalism;  (2)  the  UNION  GENERAL  DE 
TRABAJADORES,  until  recently  moderate  and  socialistic  in  policy; 
and  (3)  the  Sindicatos  Catdlicos,  or  Catholic  unions,  formed  largely 
for  the  purpose  of  combating  socialism,  but  exerting  no  very  marked 
influence.  The  political  interests  of  the  socialist  labor  elements  are 
served  by  the  Partido  Socialista  Obrero  (Socialist  Labor  Party), 
which  was  founded  in  1879.  The  World  War  gave  a  marked  impetus 
to  Spanish  labor  aspirations  for  relief  from  almost  semi-feudal  con- 
ditions, and  since  the  armistice  of  1918  an  industrial  war  of  large  pro- 
portions has  rapidly  developed  in  Spain.  In  this  war  the  govern- 
ment has  ranged  itself  largely  on  the  side  of  the  employers;  the 
workers'  constitutional  guarantees  have  been  suspended,  and  the 
violence  of  the  military  juntas  has  been  met  with  violence  on  the 
part  of  the  workers.  The  acute  need  for  a  united  labor  front  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  forces  arrayed  against  them  led  to  a  "pact  of  unity" 
between  the  syndicalist  Confederation  General  del  Trabajo  and  the 
socialist  Union  General  de  Trabajadores  in  September,  1920.  Three 
months  later,  however,  this  pact  was  denounced  by  the  C.  G.  T., 
which  accused  the  U.  G.  T.  of  having  failed  to  cooperate.  Since  that 
time,  strikes,  lockouts,  rioting,  assassinations,  government  deporta- 
tions, etc.,  continue  to  mark  the  Spanish  industrial  conflict,  which 
has  assumed  the  proportions  of  civil  war. 

Spartacans.  An  ultra  radical  section  of  the  German  working- 
class  socialists  or  communists,  led  originally  by  Karl  Liebknecht, 
Rosa  Luxemburg,  Otto  Ruhle,  and  others,  and  aiming  at  the  estab- 

[452] 


Hshment  of  an  international  socialist  republic.  The  name  of  their 
organization,  the  German  Spartacus  League,  had  its  origin  in  a 
series  of  anti-government  political  letters  signed  "Spartacus"  in 
memory  of  the  classical  hero  of  that  name.  The  Spartacans  were 
prominent  in  fomenting  the  strikes  and  mutinies  which  led  up  to  the 
German  revolution  of  November,  1918.  Soon  after  that  event  they 
withdrew  from  the  "independent"  socialist  organization,  of  which 
they  had  formed  a  section.  Since  early  in  1919  they  have  been  sup- 
pressed with  great  severity  by  the  "majority"  socialistic  government, 
which  they  hold  responsible  for  the  murder  of  their  leaders,  Lieb- 
knecht  and  Rosa  Luxemburg,  in  1919.  They  are  now  largely  merged 
in  the  German  Communist  Party.  Incorrect  variants  of  the  name 
"Spartacan"  are  numerous,  such  as  Spartacist,  Sparticist,  Sparta- 
cide,  and  Sparticide. 

Special  Agents.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

Special  Assessments.  In  addition  to  their  regular  sources 
of  revenue  through  CHARTER  FEES  and  a  periodic  PER  CAPITA  TAX, 
nearly  all  national  labor  organizations  resort  at  times  to  a  special 
assessment,  levied  on  the  local  unions  in  proportion  to  their  member- 
ship— occasionally  in  the  form  of  a  percentage  on  wages.  Power  to  levy 
special  assessments  in  emergencies  is  usually  given  to  the  GENERAL 
EXECUTIVE  BOARD,  though  it  is  sometimes  reserved  to  the  member- 
ship at  large,  acting  through  the  referendum.  In  the  greater  number 
of  cases  special  assessments  are  levied  in  support  of  strikes,  though 
sometimes  they  are  used  for  other  purposes — such  as  the  provision 
of  benefit  funds,  etc.  The  locals  of  some  national  unions  may  levy 
special  assessments  on  the  local  membership  for  any  purpose  except 
support  of  an  unauthorized  strike.  (See  STAMP  RECEIPT  SYSTEM; 
CHECK-OFF  SYSTEM.) 

Special  Contract  Operatives.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 

Special  Defense  Organizers.  In  some  national  and  inter- 
national trade  unions  these  are  travelling  officials  appointed  by  the 
executive  board  for  work  in  localities  where  the  interests  of  the  union 
are  threatened.  They  are  sent  into  towns,  cities,  or  states  where  the 
union  is  confronted  with  antagonistic  legislation,  strikes,  or  serious 
trouble  of  any  sort.  (See  DEPUTY  SYSTEM.) 

Special  Deputies.    See  ARMED  GUARDS. 
Special  Duty  Men.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 
Special  Police.    See  ARMED  GUARDS. 
30  [  453  1 


Specialization.  In  an  industrial  sense,  this  term  commonly 
denotes  any  one  of  three  different  things:  (i)  The  separation  of  in- 
dustry as  a  whole  into  particular  crafts  or  occupations,  each  with  its 
own  set  of  workers  expert  in  a  single  occupation  or  craft;  (2)  the 
separation  of  the  work  of  a  single  industrial  plant  or  process  into  a 
number  of  component  operations,  with  a  different  set  of  workers  for 
each  operation;  and  (3)  the  localization  or  concentration  of  particu- 
lar classes  or  kinds  of  industry  within  definite  geographical  areas. 
(See  DIVISION  OP  LABOR;  TERRITORIAL  DIVISION  OF  LABOR.) 

Speed -Up  System.  Because  of  its  effort  to  secure  maximum 
production  on  the  part  of  the  individual  worker,  with  a  minimum 
expenditure  of  time,  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  is  often  thus  designated. 

Speeder.    See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Speeding  Up.  The  practice,  on  the  part  of  employers,  of 
increasing  the  pace  of  industrial  production  beyond  its  normal  or 
natural  limits,  and  of  exacting  the  utmost  possible  output  from  their 
employees.  Aside  from  direct  and  brutal  "driving,"  which  is  now 
comparatively  rare,  speeding  up  is  accomplished  in  various  ways — 
as  for  example,  by  hiring  especially  rapid  or  efficient  workers  (vari- 
ously known  as  "rushers,"  "pacers,"  "swifts,"  "speeders,"  "bell 
horses,"  "pace-makers,"  "leaders,"  "pushers,"  etc.)  who  often 
receive  a  secret  bonus  for  setting  a  fast  rate  of  work  which  the  other 
workers  must  keep  up  with  under  fear  of  being  discharged;  by 
increasing  the  speed  of  machines  which  the  workers  must  operate; 
by  increasing  the  size  of  machines;  by  requiring  a  worker  to  attend 
two  or  more  machines;  by  EFFICIENCY  PAYMENTS  to  workers  who 
exceed  a  standard  rate  of  production,  as  under  the  various  forms  of 
SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT;  and  by  fines  levied  against  workers  who 
fall  below  a  specified  standard.  The  PIECE  WORK  system  of  wage 
payment  is  a  partial  protection  to  the  worker  against  "speeding  up," 
but  by  no  means  a  complete  protection.  In  that  case,  as  under  the 
plan  of  efficiency  payments,  the  practice  is  more  largely  voluntary 
on  the  worker's  part;  but  the  danger  of  overstrain  is  not  materially 
lessened,  and  a  new  evil  in  the  form  of  PRICE  CUTTING  becomes  a 
factor  in  the  situation.  The  ground  upon  which  workers  most  com- 
monly defend  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT  is  the  need  of  protecting  them- 
selves from  excessive  and  injurious  exertion — in  other  words,  from 
"speeding  up."  The  stress  and  strain  of  work  at  high  pressure  is 
declared  to  have  reached  a  point  in  some  trades  which  noticeably 
shortens  the  working  life  of  the  laborer.  In  this  connection,  it  should 

l4S4l 


be  remembered  that  a  person's  industrial  life  may  be  shortened  not 
only  by  hastening  his  absolute  deterioration,  but  also  by  raising  the 
standard  of  efficiency.  As  the  pace  increases  the  number  of  workers 
that  can  maintain  it  diminishes.  Workers  a  little  past  the  prime  of 
life,  who  might  otherwise  be  able  to  do  effective  work  for  years,  find 
themselves  forced  out  of  the  industrial  field  because  they  are  no 
longer  capable  of  the  intense  application  and  the  rapidity  of  move- 
ment which  existing  standards  require.  The  terms  "driving"  and 
"over-driving"  are  often  used  in  the  same  sense  as  "speeding  up." 
(See  FATIGUE;  SPEED-UP  SYSTEM.) 

Spittoon  Philosophers.  This  derogatory  nickname  for  mem- 
bers of  the  I.  W.  W.  has  reference  to  their  fondness  for  discussing 
social  and  economic  matters,  many  of  them  being  keen  and  widely- 
read  students  of  the  literature  in  this  field. 

Split -Fee  System.  One  of  the  most  pernicious  practices  of 
certain  private  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS  is  the  form  of  collusion  with 
foremen  or  superintendents  commonly  known  as  the  "split-fee 
system."  Under  this  plan,  the  foreman  agrees  to  hire  men  of  a  cer- 
tain employment  agent  on  condition  that  one-fourth  or  one-half 
of  every  fee  collected  from  men  whom  he  hires  be  given  to  him. 
This  leads  the  foreman  to  discharge  men  constantly  in  order  to  have 
more  men  hired  through  the  agent  and  more  fees  collected.  (See 
THREE-GANG  METHOD.) 

Split  Shift,  Split  Turn,  or  Split  Trick.  A  working  period 
that  is  divided  or  broken  into  two  parts,  with  a  considerable  non- 
working  period  in  between.  Thus,  a  man  putting  in  eight  hours 
daily  on  a  "split  shift"  might  work  for  two  hours  in  the  late  forenoon 
and  six  hours  in  the  evening.  The  most  common  purpose  of  a  "split 
shift"  is  to  have  extra  workers  on  hand  during  certain  hours  of  the 
day  when  the  pressure  of  work  is  greatest.  The  disadvantages  of 
such  a  system  to  the  workers  themselves  will  of  course  be  obvious. 
(See  SHIFT  SYSTEM.) 

Spontaneous  Strike.  A  sudden  stoppage  of  work,  usually  in 
a  single  shop  or  establishment,  undertaken  without  consultation 
with  local  or  national  trade  union  officials.  The  workers  may  be 
acting  in  sympathy  with  other  workers  on  strike,  or  their  action  may 
be  due  to  immediate  resentment  of  some  enforcement  of  DISCIPLINE 
on  the  employer's  part.  A  number  of  such  strikes,  however,  are  of 
the  "engineered"  variety;  the  employer,  knowing  or  suspecting 
that  an  organized  fight  is  imminent,  will  decide  to  goad  his  workers 
into  premature  and  ill-considered  action,  and  so  defeat  them. 

[455] 


Spotter  System.  In  labor  parlance,  the  method  or  plan  of 
keeping  constant  secret  watch  over  the  actions  and  attitude  of  em- 
ployees, by  means  of  company  spies  or  "spotters."  This  system  is 
chiefly  practiced  by  public  utility  corporations — railways,  telegraph 
and  street-car  companies,  etc. — which  employ  large  numbers  of  work- 
ers who  cannot,  from  the  nature  of  their  work,  be  kept  under  the  sort 
of  company  surveillance  that  is  possible  in  an  ordinary  industrial 
establishment. 

Spy  in  Industry.  See  ESPIONAGE  IN  INDUSTRY;  LABOR  DE- 
TECTIVE AGENCIES;  UNDER-COVER  MEN;  AGENT  PROVOCATEUR; 
SPOTTER  SYSTEM. 

Stab  Work.  TIME  WORK,  as  distinguished  from  PIECE  WORK, 
is  often  so  called  in  the  British  printing  trades.  "Stab"  is  an  ab- 
breviation of  "establishment" — time  wages  being  known  as  "estab- 
lishment wages"  when  they  were  first  introduced  among  the  printers 
early  in  the  igth  century. 

Stamp  Receipt  System.  A  plan  of  collecting  union  revenues 
sometimes  adopted  by  national  or  international  unions.  According 
to  this  plan,  each  LOCAL,  in  return  for  the  sums  remitted  to  the  na- 
tional treasury,  receives  from  the  general  treasurer  or  secretary  an 
equal  amount  in  stamp  receipts.  These  stamp  receipts  are  affixed 
to  the  members'  books  upon  the  payment  of  INITIATION  FEES,  weekly 
or  monthly  MEMBERSHIP  DUES,  and  SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS,  and  no 
member  is  considered  in  good  standing  unless  he  can  show,  for  the 
period  covered,  the  requisite  number  of  stamps  properly  dated  and 
cancelled.  Since  no  other  form  of  receipt  is  recognized  by  the  na- 
tional union  and  remittances  must  accompany  orders  for  stamps, 
the  locals  have  little  opportunity  to  evade  their  payments.  To 
prevent  fraud,  the  color  of  the  stamp  is  often  changed  by  the  presi- 
dent several  times  a  year,  at  irregular  intervals.  Other  unions  which 
have  not  uniform  dues,  but  whose  national  treasuries  are  supported 
in  the  usual  way  by  a  PER  CAPITA  TAX,  issue  stamps  for  the  payments 
to  the  national  treasury  only. 

Standard  Agreement.  A  form  of  TRADE  AGREEMENT  that  has 
been  adopted  or  accepted  by  employers  and  workers  as  the  standard 
for  a  particular  trade  or  industry — local,  district,  or  national  in  extent 
• — and  to  which  all  future  agreements  in  the  same  trade  or  industry 
must  conform,  as  long  as  the  standard  agreement  remains  in  force. 

Standard  Family.    See  FAMILY  BUDGET. 
Standard  of  Comfort.    See  STANDARD  OF  LIVING. 

1456] 


Standard  of  Living.  As  far  as  this  term  is  capable  of  exact 
definition,  it  may  be  said  to  consist  in  "the  amount  of  necessaries, 
comforts,  and  luxuries  which  any  person  or  class  is  accustomed  to 
enjoy  and  to  insist  upon  having."  Some  writers  make  the  "standard 
of  living"  synonymous  with  a  "standard  of  comfort" — as  for  ex- 
ample, Professor  Charles  J.  Bullock,  who  says:  " Each  class  of  people 
in  any  society  is  accustomed  to  enjoy  a  greater  or  less  amount  of 
the  comforts  or  luxuries  of  life.  The  amount  of  comforts  or  luxuries 
customarily  enjoyed  by  any  class  of  men  forms  the  '  standard  of  liv- 
ing* of  that  class."  In  any  case  it  seems  an  almost  universal  rule  that 
the  higher  the  existing  standard  the  greater  is  the  persistence  shown, 
not  only  in  maintaining  that  standard,  but  in  endeavoring  to  reach 
a  still  higher  one,  and  this  fact  has  a  very  powerful  influence  upon 
the  determination  of  wages.  In  his  "Standard  of  Living  among  the 
Industrial  People  of  America,"  F.  H.  Streightoff  says:  "A  clear 
understanding  of  what  the  standard  of  living  is  permits  some  appre- 
ciation of  its  significance.  In  the  first  place,  unless  the  standard 
includes  adequate  food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  health  will  inevitably 
suffer  and  the  race  will  degenerate  physically.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
men  obtain  a  proper  satisfaction  of  these  fundamental  wants,  not 
only  will  health  be  preserved  and  improved,  but  a  foundation  will 
be  laid  for  intellectual  progress.  A  step  farther  may  be  taken  along 
this  line:  unless  they  believe  that  their  descendants  will  be  able 
to  maintain  the  parental  standard,  men  will,  if  thoughtful,  refuse  to 
become  fathers.  Again,  if  women  would  rather  dress  showily  than 
enjoy  homes  of  their  own,  married  or  unmarried,  they  will  refuse  to 
assume  the  burden  of  motherhood.  Thus,  in  two  distinct  ways,  the 
standard  of  living  tends  to  determine  population.  By  this  limiting 
of  propagation,  the  standard  of  living  limits  the  number  of  wage- 
workers,  and  so,  if  high  enough,  it  can  change  the  ratio  of  supply 
to  demand  for  labor  and  thus  raise  compensation.  In  a  much  more 
simple  and  direct  way,  however,  the  desire  for  a  higher  standard 
of  living  decides  the  minimum  pay  demanded  by  trade  unions  and 
operates  to  increase  earnings.  More  satisfactions  will  breed  new 
wants,  yet  higher  wages  will  be  sought,  and  so  the  process  will  con- 
tinue. In  this  way  the  'ideal'  standard  of  living  is  the  key  to  the 
material  progress  of  the  industrial  classes."  A  distinction  is  some- 
times made  between  "standard  of  living,"  and  "scale  of  living," 
the  former  phrase  denoting  the  way  one  wishes  or  should  like  to  live, 
and  the  latter  the  way  one  really  does  live.  (See  AMERICAN  STAND- 
ARD OF  LIVING;  FAMILY  BUDGET;  COST  OP  LIVING;  CONVENTIONAL 
NECESSITIES;  STEWARD'S  THEORY  OF  WAGES.) 

I  4571 


Standard  Rate.  This  term  is  commonly  used  in  designation 
of  a  principle  which  is  practically  universal  among  trade  unions — 
namely,  the  insistence  on  payment  of  wages  according  to  some  definite 
standard,  uniform  in  its  application.  The  standard  rate  is  the  recog- 
nized scale  of  wages  in  a  particular  industry,  established  by  COL- 
LECTIVE BARGAINING.  In  a  larger  sense,  it  is  a  minimum  rate  of  re- 
muneration below  which  no  worker  shall  be  paid.  It  is  not  a  maxi- 
mum, for  in  many  cases  higher  wages  are  paid  to  specially  skilled 
workmen,  sometimes  by  express  agreement  between  an  employer 
and  a  trade  union.  Obviously,  therefore,  the  standard  rate  does  not 
(as  is  often  charged)  reduce  all  workers  to  the  level  of  the  most  in- 
efficient or  lazy;  the  principle  involved  is  merely  that  of  equal  pay 
for  equal  effort,  which  is  plainly  consistent  with  quite  unequal 
earnings  even  for  workers  engaged  in  the  same  task.  "It  is  true  that 
there  is  a  widespread  objection  to  the  PIECE  WORK  system.  Even 
unions  whose  members  work  under  it  do  not  always  approve  of  it. 
But  this  is  because  it  is  felt  to  interfere  with  the  real  final  purpose 
of  the  organization — the  maintenance  and  the  increase  of  the  rate  of 
pay  per  unit  of  output.  Uniformity  of  pay  per  unit,  desirable  as  it 
is  in  itself,  is  chiefly  important  as  a  means  of  securing  higher  rates  of 
pay.  If,  under  the  circumstances  of  a  given  trade,  the  rate  per  unit 
of  output  seems  more  effectively  protected  by  the  time  system  than 
by  the  piece-price  system,  the  time  system  will  be  preferred;  and  the 
uniformity  of  the  rate  per  unit  must  be  protected  under  it  by  such 
means  as  are  available.  ...  In  a  few  exceptional  cases  the  rigid  en- 
forcement of  the  MINIMUM  WAGE  is  waived.  This  is  done  oftenest 
for  members  whose  hands  have  lost  their  cunning  by  reason  of  ad- 
vancing years.  Some  unions  give  special  consideration  to  the  cases 
of  such  men,  when  they  request  it,  and  authorize  them  to  accept 
special  wage  rates  lower  than  the  regular  minimum.  This  is  very 
rarely  done,  however,  for  any  other  reason  than  age."  (See  COMMON 
RULE;  NORMAL  DAY;  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT:  WAGE  AGREEMENTS 
IN  GERMANY;  EXEMPT  CARDS.) 

Standpatter.     See  REACTIONARY. 

Starts.  In  anthracite  coal-mining  each  employee  as  he  enters 
a  mine  is  checked  on  the  company  records  as  having  made  a  "start" 
to  work.  At  the  end  of  a  week  or  a  month  he  has  made  so  many 
"starts" — i.e.,  he  has  put  in  so  many  working  days  at  the  mine. 
Thus,  the  term  "starts,"  in  connection  with  coal-mining,  is  practically 
synonymous  with  "working  days." 

State  Capitalism.    See  STATE  SOCIALISM. 

[458] 


State  Central  Body.     See  CENTRAL  BODY. 

State  Constabulary  or  State  Police.  In  those  states  which 
maintainmdunted  bodies  of  armed  men  for  special  police  duty  through- 
out the  state,  the  conduct  of  these  bodies  in  connection  with  STRIKES 
and  other  industrial  disturbances  has  been  frequently  and  seriously 
criticized.  The  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
devoted^a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  question  of  a  state  constabu- 
lary as  a  method  of  policing  industry.  Extensive  investigations  of 
the  organization,  personnel,  and  activities  of  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Constabulary  were  made  and  a  number  of  witnesses  were  heard  at 
length.  The  findings  with  regard  to  this  particular  police  organiza- 
tion may  be  briefly  stated:  "It  is  an  extremely  efficient  force  for 
crushing  strikes,  but  it  is  not  successful  in  preventing  violence  in 
connection  with  strikes,  in  maintaining  the  legal  and  civil  rights  of 
the  parties  to  the  dispute,  nor  in  protecting  the  public.  On  the  con- 
trary, violence  seems  to  increase  rather  than  diminish  when  the 
constabulary  is  brought  into  an  industrial  dispute;  the  legal  and 
civil  rights  of  the  workers  have  on  numerous  occasions  been  violated 
by  the  constabulary;  and  citizens  not  in  any  way  connected  with  the 
dispute  and  innocent  of  any  interference  with  the  constabulary  have 
been  brutally  treated,  and  in  one  case  shot  down  by  members  of  the 
constabulary,  who  have  escaped  punishment  for  their  acts.  .  .  . 
There  are  certain  features  of  the  State  police  system,  however, 
which  seem  to  be  preferable  to  the  present  haphazard  methods  of 
policing  strikes. ...  If  these  desirable  features  could  be  combined  with 
other  features  which  would  insure  their  impartiality  during  industrial 
disputes,  and  raise  their  ideals  from  the  present  militaristic  basis  to 
the  police  basis  of  preserving  the  peace  and  protecting  the  rights 
of  both  parties  and  the  public,  the  establishment  of  State  police  sys- 
tems for  use  in  connection  with  industrial  disputes  might  be  recom- 
mended." (See  INTER-CHURCH  STEEL  REPORT.) 

State  Federation  of  Labor.  A  delegate  organization  repre- 
senting the  various  labor  bodies  in  a  given  state — chiefly  those 
affiliated  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF 
LABOR.  It  has  no  arbitrary  powers  over  its  constituent  bodies,  but 
exists  for  active  political  effort,  mutual  discussion,  education,  propa- 
ganda, investigation,  and  joint  action  in  state  matters  affecting  or 
involving  the  interests  of  organized  labor — chiefly  in  connection  with 
state  legislative  affairs.  As  a  typical  example,  the  objects  of  the 
Illinois  State  Federation  of  Labor  are,  according  to  its  constitution, 
"the  securing  of  legislation  in  the  interests  of  organized  labor,  to 

[459] 


promote  the  use  of  the  UNION  LABEL  and  the  purchase  of  union  label 
goods,  to  make  more  effective  legally  declared  BOYCOTTS  and,  in 
general,  to  promote  the  work  of  labor  organizations."  Each  consti- 
tuent organization  within  the  state  is  entitled  to  representation  in 
the  state  federation  on  the  basis  of  one  delegate  for  every  hundred 
members  or  major  fraction  thereof.  Organizations  of  less  than  one 
hundred  members  are  entitled  to  one  delegate,  while  all  CITY  CEN- 
TRALS send  five  delegates  each.  The  state  federation  is  governed 
by  an  annual  convention,  at  which  officers  are  chosen  who  form  the 
executive  council,  a  body  that  carries  on  the  administrative  work  of 
the  federation  subject  to  the  convention's  orders  and  approval. 
State  federations  of  labor  are  directly  represented  in  the  annual 
conventions  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  (See  CENTRAL  BODY.) 

State  Industrial  Commission.  As  established  in  several 
states  of  the  union — notably  Wisconsin,  New  York,  Ohio,  and 
Pennsylvania — this  is  a  permanent  expert  body,  appointed  usually 
by  the  governor  of  the  state,  which  administers  the  state  WORKMEN'S 
COMPENSATION  act,  investigates  and  adjusts  industrial  disputes, 
sees  to  the  enforcement  of  HOUR  LAWS  and  WAGE  LAWS,  superintends 

public  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS,   Supervises  FACTORY   INSPECTION,   and 

performs  various  other  duties  in  connection  with  the  industrial 
welfare  of  the  state.  For  each  branch  of  the  industrial  commission's 
work,  the  state  legislature  generally  lays  down  the  broad  policy  and 
standard,  and  after  investigations  and  public  hearings  the  Com- 
mission makes  specific  applications  of  the  law  by  means  of  ADMIN- 
ISTRATIVE ORDERS  or  rules  which  have  generally  the  binding  force  cf 
legislative  statutes.  The  Commission  "has  its  staff  of  investigators 
and  inspectors  who  are  continually  furnishing  new  information,  and 
it  can  change  its  rules  as  needed.  It  has  its  representatives  of  em- 
ployers and  employees  who  testify  to  the  actual  conditions  that  need 
remedying  and  actual  workings  of  the  rules  already  adopted.  It 
can  make  classifications  and  issue  different  rules  for  different  condi- 
tions, and  can  change  its  rules  when  the  conditions  change  or  when 
it  discovers  new  and  more  effective  remedies."  In  Professor  Com- 
mons's characterization,  the  state  industrial  commission  is  "a  fourth 
branch  of  government  combining,  but  not  usurping,  the  work  of  the 
three  other  branches.  It  is  a  legislature  continually  in  session,  yet 
the  power  of  legislation  is  not  delegated.  It  is  an  executive  sharing 
with  the  governor  the  enforcement  of  laws,  but  also  enforcing 
its  own  orders.  It  is  a  court  deciding  cases  that  the  judiciary 
formerly  decided,  but  not  assuming  the  authority  of  the  courts." 

[460] 


(See    INDUSTRIAL    SAFETY    LAWS;    SAFETY    CODES;    INDUSTRIAL 
COUNSELLORS.) 

State  Insurance.    See  Soc  AL  INSURANCE. 

State  Insurance  Funds.    See  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION. 

State  Socialism.  A  paternalistic  school  of  economic  and  politi- 
cal thought,  originating  in  modern  Germany,  which  demands  State 
interference  in  industry  to  the  end  of  juster  distribution  of  wealth 
and  better  conditions  for  the  workers.  It  does  not  contemplate  any 
radical  change  in  the  worker's  economic  status,  but  insists  upon 
State  administration  of  those  industries  or  services  that  are  of  a 
fundamental  and  universal  character — such  as  banking,  housing, 
insurance,  railroads  supplying  of  heat,  light,  water,  food,  etc.  On 
the  legislative  side,  it  would  have  the  State  adjust  the  relations  be- 
tween masters  and  workers.  Under  pressure  of  necessity,  State 
socialism  was  adopted  in  large  measure  by  nearly  every  govern- 
ment during  the  recent  war.  Advocates  of  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM 
attack  State  socialism  as  a  mere  sop  and  compromise,  designed  to 
postpone  or  defeat  complete  economic  freedom;  "State  capitalism," 
they  maintain,  would  be  a  more  fitting  designation  for  such  a  system. 
State  socialism  is  sometimes  called  "authoritarian  socialism" — as 
distinguished  from  "voluntary  socialism,"  or  those  forms  of  co- 
operative economic  action  not  controlled  by  a  highly  centralized 
authority.  (See  SOCIALISM;  SOCIALISTS  OF  THE  CHAIR;  COLLECTIV- 
ISM; PATERNALISM;  BENEVOLENT  FEUDALISM;  GUILD  SOCIALISM; 
BUREAUCRACY.) 

State  Use  System  of  Convict  Labor.  This  system  is  similar 
to  the  PUBLIC  ACCOUNT  SYSTEM  in  all  respects  except  that  the  products 
of  the  convicts'  labor,  manufactured  from  raw  materials  purchased 
by  the  institutions  and  under  the  sole  direction  of  prison  officials,  or 
produced  in  agricultural  or  other  employments,  are  used  in  penal, 
reformatory,  or  other  public  institutions,  instead  of  being  sold  to  the 
general  public.  (See  CONVICT  LABOR  SYSTEMS;  PRISON  LABOR.) 

Statement.     See  PRICE  LIST. 
Station  Gang.    See  STATION  SYSTEM. 

Station  System,  Station -Work  System,  Station -Contract 
System.  These  terms  refer  to  a  method  of  SUB-CONTRACTING  or 
COOPERATIVE  PIECE  WORK  often  followed  in  railway  construction 
work.  A  certain  section  of  the  work,  consisting  of  so  many  yards 

[461] 


along  the  right  of  way  (usually  from  one  "  survey  station  "  to  another), 
is  let  out  by  the  construction  company  handling  the  whole  job  to  a 
group  of  perhaps  a  dozen  men,  called  a  "stat  on  gang."  This  group 
is  paid  at  piece  work  rates  on  the  basis  of  their  collective  labor  (so 
many  cubic  yards  of  grading,  so  many  linear  feet  of  tunnel  excava- 
tion, etc.),  and  the  group  earnings  are  then  divided  among  the  individ- 
ual members.  Sometimes,  however,  the  sub-contractor  is  an  in- 
dividual rather  than  a  group,  hiring  his  own  "station  gang"  and 
paying  them  at  prearranged  rates. 

Statisticians.  As  found  in  some  American  trade  unions, 
these  are  national  or  local  officers  whose  function  it  is  to  collect  in- 
formation regarding  workers,  wages,  and  general  conditions  in  the 
particular  industry  concerned,  to  prepare  special  reports  on  these 
matters  for  the  local  or  national  executives,  and  to  perform  other 
similar  duties.  (See  DEPUTY  SYSTEM.) 

Statute  of  Laborers.  This,  the  first  in  the  long  series  of 
British  legislative  acts  in  regulation  of  labor  affairs,  was  enacted  by 
Parliament  in  1350.  It  provided  that  no  laborer  should  demand  and 
no  employer  should  pay  wages  higher  than  the  rate  customary  before 
the  Great  Plague  of  1348,  when  scarcity  of  numbers  gave  the  laborers 
such  an  advantage  that  they  were  able  to  secure  greatly  increased 
wages.  Under  a  later  Statute  of  Laborers,  enacted  in  1563,  the  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  for  each  locality  were  empowered  to  fix  the  amount 
of  wages.  As  the  justices  were  themselves  either  employers  or  mem- 
bers of  the  employing  class,  the  effects  of  this  statute  (which  remained 
in  force  more  than  two  hundred  years)  may  easily  be  imagined. 

Stay  In  Strike.     See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 

Stevedore  System.  A  form  of  the  CONTRACT  SYSTEM  as  ap- 
plied to  the  loading  and  unloading  of  vessels.  The  stevedore  is  usually 
a  labor  contractor  without  capital,  who  furnishes  the  men  required 
for  dock  work  under  contract  with  ship  owners  or  captains.  The 
constitution  of  the  International  Longshoremen's  Association  de- 
clares it  to  be  one  of  the  main  objects  of  the  association  "to  substitute 
direct  work  for  vessel  owners  in  place  of  the  system  of  unloading  boats 
by  jobbers  or  boss  stevedores,  which  robs  the  worker  of  his  wages." 

Steward.  A  local  trade  union  official,  with  special  functions 
in  connection  with  routine  union  business — particularly  in  the 
building  trades.  "The  steward  is  usually  elected  by  the  men  from 
among  their  number  immediately  upon  starting  work,  but  receives 

[462] 


no  extra  compensation  for  his  services.  He  examines  the  WORKING 
CARDS  of  members,  reports  infractions  of  the  rules  to  the  BUSINESS 
AGENT,  and  can  even  in  certain  cases  examine  the  pay  of  members 
to  see  that  they  are  not  receiving  below  the  minimum  rate.  The 
steward  is  thus  the  representative  of  the  journeyman  and  a  lieu- 
tenant of  the  business  agent.  The  method  of  choosing  the  steward 
differs.  Occasionally  he  is  selected  by  the  business  agent.  In  other 
cases  no  deliberate  selection  is  made,  but  the  first  union  man  employed 
acts  as  steward.  Sometimes  each  man  acts  as  steward  in  turn." 
In  some  unions,  notably  in  England,  there  are  several  stewards  who 
are  assigned  to  separate  functions.  Thus,  in  one  large  British  amal- 
gamated society,  we  find  a  SICK  STEWARD,  a  "check  steward," 
and  a  "money  steward"  for  each  local  branch.  In  the  early  days  of 
British  trade  unionism,  when  branch  meetings  were  almost  invariably 
held  in  the  local  public-house  or  tavern,  the  stewards  (or  "marshal- 
men,"  as  they  were  also  called)  were  originally  waiters — two  or  four 
members  of  the  union,  serving  generally  in  rotation,  whose  duty  it 
was  "at  every  meeting  to  fetch  all  the  liquor  into  the  committee  room, 
and  serve  it  regularly  round."  (See  SHOP  STEWARD;  PATROLMEN; 
SHOP  COLLECTOR.) 

Steward's  Theory  of  Wages.  As  formulated  by  a  Boston 
mechanic,  Ira  Steward  (1831-1883),  the  essence  of  this  theory  is  that 
WAGES  do  not  depend  upon  the  amount  of  capital  or  the  supply  of 
labor,  but  upon  the  habits,  customs,  and  wants  of  the  working  classes. 
The  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY,  by  increasing  the  amount  of  the  worker's  lei- 
sure, would  raise  the  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  of  the  workers.  As  the 
standard  of  living  rises,  wages  would  also  rise.  Steward's  views  have 
been  the  accepted  basic  doctrine  in  the  American  trade  union  move- 
ment. 

Stiff  or  Working  Stiff.  A  nickname  commonly  bestowed  upon 
"casual"  and  "migratory"  workers  throughout  the  West — particu- 
larly members  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  who  themselves  often  thus  designate 
their  comrades.  Probably  the  term  has  its  origin  in  the  earlier  ety- 
mological sense  of  "stiff,"  as  synonymous  with  "strong,"  "lusty," 
etc.  (See  BLANKET  STIFF;  HARVEST  STIFF.) 

Stint  or  Tantum.  In  certain  British  PIECE  WORK  trades — 
notably  pottery  and  bottle-making — this  is  (or  was)  a  fixed  maximum 
daily  output  which  the  individual  worker  must  not  exceed.  In  other 
trades  the  term  "  stint "  is  used  in  the  same  sense  as  TASK,  as  denoting 
a  minimum  amount  of  work  that  must  be  completed  within  a  specified 
time. 

[463] 


Stool  Pigeons.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 
Stools.    See  UNDER-COVER  MEN. 
Stop  In  Strike.    See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 
Stop -Watching.    See  TIME  STUDY. 

Stoppage.  As  commonly  used  in  connection  with  labor 
affairs,  this  term  denotes  a  spasmodic  or  informal  STRIKE  confined 
to  a  single  shop  or  works,  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  an  adjustment  of 
some  immediate  grievance  or  in  protest  against  some  act  of  an  in- 
dividual employer  or  foreman.  Stoppages  are  usually  of  short  dura- 
tion and  as  a  rule  occur  without  trade  union  sanction. 

Store  Orders  or  Store  Pay.    See  SCRIPT  PAYMENTS. 
Store  Societies.    See  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION. 
Straight  Eight -Hour  Day.    See  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY. 

Straight  Pay.  A  term  sometimes  used  in  designation  of  a 
flat  TIME  WORK  or  PIECE  WORK  method  of  wage  payment — as  differen- 
tiated from  any  method  involving  the  payment  of  bonuses  or  premi- 
ums. (See  STRAIGHT  PIECE  WORK.) 

Straight  Piece  Work.  The  method  of  wage  payment  under 
which  a  fixed  price  is  paid  for  each  unit  of  production ;  as  distinguished 
from  any  form  of  PIECE  WORK  in  which  bonuses  or  premiums  are 
added  to  the  piece  rate,  or  in  which  the  piece  rate  fluctuates  in  rela- 
tion to  the  amount  of  output.  Under  the  "straight  piece  work" 
system,  which  is  the  prevailing  method  in  many  industries,  the  labor 
cost  of  the  article  to  the  employer  remains  constant,  and  any  increase 
in  the  output  of  the  workers  means  a  corresponding  increase  in 
wages.  At  the  same  time  the  employer  saves  by  securing  a  higher 
output,  because  overhead  charges  are  reduced  and  machines  more 
fully  utilized. 

Straight  Time.  In  connection  with  OVERTIME. work,  "straight 
time"  is  simply  the  same  rate  of  wages  for  the  overtime  as  that  re- 
ceived for  the  normal  working  day  or  week — as  distinguished  from 
an  increased  rate  for  the  extra  time,  on  the  basis  of  "time  and  a 
qu<vter,"  TIME  AND  A  HALF,  "double  time,"  etc.  In  some  trades 
"straight  time"  denotes  employment  by  the  week — as  differentiated 
from  "broken  time,"  or  employment  by  the  hour. 

Strappers.  English  DOCKERS  and  WATERSIDE  WORKERS  who 
aje  employed  in  gangs  under  contractors  are  thus  nicknamed. 

1 464  ] 


Straw  Boss.  A  sub-foreman  in  a  logging  camp  or  in  other 
industrial  operations  is  often  so  called  by  the  workers.  The  term  is 
also  applied,  in  connection  with  the  practice  of  JOB  SELLING,  to 
English-speaking  foreigners  who  victimize  their  fellow-countrymen 
who  cannot  speak  English.  (See  PADRONE  SYSTEM.) 

Street  Trades.  A  collective  designation  for  such  occupa- 
tions as  shining  shoes,  selling  papers,  running  errands,  etc.  Some  of 
the  worst  features  of  CHILD  LABOR  are  to  be  found  in  the  street  trades, 
and  they  are  difficult  of  social  control  because  of  the  fact  that  many 
of  those  engaged  in  such  occupations  are  "independent  proprietors" 
and  therefore  not  subject  to  legislation  regulating  hours  and  conditions 
of  labor. 

Strike.  The  concerted  temporary  withdrawal  from  work  on 
the  part  of  a  group  of  wage-earners  to  effect  some  desired  purpose 
— usually  the  improvement  or  maintenance  of  the  conditions  of  their 
employment.  Although  strikes,  in  this  sense,  are  as  old  as  the  WAGE 
SYSTEM  if  not  older  (indeed,  the  slave  insurrections,  peasant  revolts, 
and  labor  wars  occurring  before  the  emergence  of  the  wage  system 
were  essentially  "strikes"),  the  Oxford  Dictionary  gives  the  first 
use  of  the  word  "strike"  in  connection  with  an  industrial  dispute 
as  occurring  in  1768.  The  derivation  is  probably  from  the  sailors' 
term  of  "striking"  or  lowering  the  mast,  thus  bringing  the  ship's 
movement  to  a  stop.  The  main  general  purposes  for  which  strikes 
are  instituted  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows:  (i)  To  main- 
tain or  to  force  an  improvement  in  the  terms  or  conditions  of  employ- 
ment; (2)  to  protest  against  a  grievance;  (3)  to  exert  pressure  in 
favor  of  some  other  group  of  workers  involved  in  an  industrial  dis- 
pute; (4)  to  punish  other  persons  or  groups  for  antagonistic  or  offen- 
sive acts;  (5)  to  dictate  to  other  persons  a  particular  course  of  con- 
duct in  regard  to  any  question;  (6)  to  prevent  individuals  or  groups 
from  carrying  out  a  certain  expressed  or  suspected  intention;  (7) 
to  compel  a  government  to  adopt  or  abstain  from  adopting  a  par- 
ticular measure  or  policy.  The  ECONOMIC  STRIKE  (by  far  the  com- 
monest form)  is  most  specifically  represented  in  the  first  of  these 
purposes;  the  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE  in  the  third;  the  POLITICAL 
STRIKE  in  the  seventh.  But  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  formu- 
late any  arbitrary  distinctions  of  this  sort.  The  sympathetic  strike 
may  be  either  economic  or  political  in  its  ultimate  aim;  and  the 
political  strike  may  be  instituted  for  ends  that  are  actually  economic. 
What  is  loosely  known  as  a  GENERAL  STRIKE  may  arise  in  any  one  or 
more  of  these  seven  purposes;  while  the  "social"  or  "revolutionary" 

[465] 


general  strike,  which  aims  at  a  radical  social  or  industrial  transforma- 
tion, is  so  far  mainly  a  theory,  although  in  some  degree  inherent  in 
any  general  strike.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  chief  purpose 
of  a  strike  is  either  to  enforce  a  demand  for  increased  wages,  or  to 
resist  a  reduction  of  wages.  "The  theory  of  bargaining,"  says  the 
Report  of  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION,  "assumes  that  the 
seller  will  refuse  to  sell  unless  he  can  get  a  satisfactory  price.  There  is 
no  other  means  by  which  a  satisfactory  price  can  be  got.  It  is  as- 
sumed, as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  buyer  will  give  no  more  than 
the  lowest  price  at  which  he  can  get  the  commodity.  The  workman, 
whether  standing  alone  or  organized  in  a  union,  appears  in  the  market 
as  a  seller  of  a  particular  commodity — labor.  He  supposes  that  he 
has  the  same  right  as  a  seller  of  steel  to  determine  for  himself  the 
price  that  his  commodity  ought  to  bring.  He  supposes  that  he  has 
the  same  right  as  the  seller  of  steel  to  refuse  to  sell  unless  he  can  get 
his  price.  But  the  strike  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  refusal 
of  a  number  of  sellers  of  labor,  acting,  for  the  time  being,  in  agreement, 
to  sell  their  labor  below  the  price  which  they  consider  just."  A  very 
large  number  of  trade  unions,  both  local  and  national,  have  in  their 
constitutions  declarations  of  a  general  character  to  the  effect  that 
strikes  are  in  themselves  undesirable.  It  is  very  common  to  find 
rules  that  strikes  shall  be  resorted  to  only  "after  failure  of  all 
honorable  attempts  at  peaceful  settlement."  Moreover,  the  rules 
of  local  and  national  trade  unions,  almost  without  exception,  provide 
for  conciliatory  negotiations  with  employers  before  a  strike  may  be 
entered  upon.  If  the  union  feels  that  it  has  a  grievance  it  usually 
directs  its  regular  officers  or  its  BUSINESS  AGENT — if  it  has  one — 
or  a  special  "arbitration  committee"  to  present  the  matter  to  the 
employer.  Such  arbitration  committees  are  sometimes  permanently 
constituted,  and  in  other  cases  are  chosen  especially  to  negotiate 
regarding  the  particular  matter  at  issue.  These  representatives  of 
the  union  do  not,  perhaps,  usually  have  power  to  make  binding 
settlements  upon  other  terms  than  those  of  the  original  demand. 
If  these  terms  cannot  be  secured,  the  propositions  of  the  employer 
are  reported  back  to  the  union,  and  frequently  negotiations  are 
continued  until  a  compromise  is  reached.  In  regard  to  the  legal 
aspects  of  the  strike,  it  may  be  said  that  here,  as  in  nearly  all  other 
legal  phases  of  the  labor  movement,  the  bias  of  the  individual  court 
is  likely  to  be  the  determining  factor  in  any  specific  case  involving 
strike  "legality."  So  far  as  there  is  any  consistent  attitude  on  the 
part  of  the  courts  in  the  United  States,  it  may  be  summarized  as 
follows:  "Except  where  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION  has  been  intro- 

[466] 


duced,  as  in  Kansas  in  1920,  strikes  solely  and  directly  involving 
the  rate  of  pay  or  the  hours  of  labor  are  in  ordinary  times  everywhere 
considered  legal.  But  strikes  to  gain  a  CLOSED  SHOP,  sympathetic 
strikes,  and  strikes  against  non-union  material  have  been  condemned 
in  many  jurisdictions.  Only  in  California  is  it  settled  law  that  all 
strikes  are  legal."  Owing  to  the  difficulty  or  impossibility  at  times  of 
distinguishing  in  practice  between  a  strike  and  a  LOCKOUT,  the  term 
"dispute"  or  "trade  dispute"  has  long  been  used  in  British  labor 
reports  as  a  generic  designation  for  any  forced  cessation  of  work. 
(For  accounts  of  specific  forms  of  strikes  and  strike  methods  see 
ECONOMIC  STRIKE;  POLITICAL  STRIKE;  GENERAL  STRIKE;  SYMPA- 
THETIC STRIKE;  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE;  LIGHTNING  STRIKE;  DEMON- 
STRATION STRIKE;  ONE-MAN  STRIKE;  SAFETY  STRIKE;  SPONTANEOUS 
STRIKE;  SHOP  STRIKE;  STRIKE  IN  DETAIL;  SUCCESSIVE  STRIKE; 
BUTTON  STRIKE.  For  descriptions  of  trade  union  methods  and 
policies  in  regard  to  strikes,  see  STRIKE  CONTROL;  STRIKE  VOTE; 
STRIKE  FUND;  STRIKE  PAY;  STRIKE  COMMITTEE;  STRIKE  DEPUTY. 
For  other  main  references  to  the  general  subject,  see  RIGHT  TO 
STRIKE;  STRIKEBREAKING;  STRIKEBREAKER;  PICKETING;  INTIMI- 
DATION; STRIKE  INSURANCE;  LOCKOUT;  VIOLENCE  IN  THE  LABOR 
MOVEMENT;  AGITATOR.) 

Strike  Agent.    See  STRIKE  DEPUTY. 
Strike  Application.     See  STRIKE  VOTE. 
Strike  Assessment.    See  STRIKE  FUND. 
Strike  Benefits.    See  STRIKE  PAY. 
Strike  Circular.    See  STRIKE  VOTE. 
Strike  Clerk.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 

Strike  Committee.  A  temporary  body  of  workers  organized 
to  manage  the  policy  and  tactics  of  a  particular  STRIKE  or  LOCKOUT. 
In  the  case  of  a  local  disturbance,  the  strike  committee  is  chosen 
by  the  local  union,  and  has  full  charge  of  affairs  where  there  is  com- 
plete local  autonomy;  where  the  local  is  not  autonomous,  the  strike 
committee  acts  in  cooperation  with  a  special  STRIKE  DEPUTY  sent  to 
the  scene  by  the  national  union  to  which  the  LOCAL  belongs.  Where 
more  than  one  local  is  involved,  management  of  the  strike  is  entrusted 
to  a  "joint  strike  committee,"  composed  of  members  from  each 
of  the  locals  involved,  usually  acting  in  conjunction  with  a  national 
strike  deputy.  In  the  case  of  a  national  strike,  the  officers  of  the 

[467] 


national  union  generally  act  as  a  strike  committee;  if  more  than  one 
national  union  is  involved,  a  joint  committee  is  formed  among  the 
national  officers  of  the  various  unions  concerned. 

Strike  Control.  The  question  as  to  whether  the  power  to 
call  and  conduct  STRIKES  should  be  vested  in  local  or  national  unions 
has  been  long  and  bitterly  debated  in  the  American  labor  movement. 
In  much  the  larger  number  of  unions,  strike  control  is  now  vested 
largely  or  wholly  in  the  national  or  district  organizations,  particularly 
in  those  industries  which  produce  for  a  wide  territorial  market.  Local 
strike  control  is  found  chiefly  in  those  industries — notably  the  building 
trades — which  serve  a  local  market.  When  a  national  organization 
pays  BENEFITS  to  the  members  of  local  unions  on  strike,  the  national 
officers  are  naturally  given  a  very  considerable  degree  of  control  over 
the  inauguration  of  strikes.  The  constitutions  of  well-established 
national  unions  usually  refuse  to  sanction  any  strike  unless  all  the 
following  steps  have  been  taken:  First,  thorough  efforts  at  nego- 
tiation on  the  part  of  the  local  unions  affected;  second,  a  determina- 
tion by  a  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  majority  of  the  local  members, 
on  secret  ballot,  to  insist  on  the  demands  made;  next,  approval  by 
the  national  officers  of  the  position  the  locals  have  taken;  and  finally, 
exhaustive  efforts  on  the  part  of  these  officers,  in  person  or  by  deputy, 
to  obtain  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  dispute.  These  national 
officers  are  in  many  cases  men  of  high  intelligence  and  of  long  ex- 
perience as  to  labor  disputes.  They  are  largely  free  from  the  per- 
sonal feeling  and  the  narrowness  which  are  likely  to  characterize  the 
local  unions  in  their  conflicts  with  employers.  By  their  intervention, 
accordingly,  they  are  often  able  to  prevent  strikes  or  to  secure 
satisfactory  settlement  of  disputes  by  conciliatory  methods.  It  is 
commonly  in  those  cases  where  employers  refuse  to  negotiate  with 
these  national  officers  that  industrial  disputes  develop  into  serious 
strikes.  (See  STRIKE  VOTE;  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE.) 

Strike  Deputy.  In  some  of  the  larger  American  national 
unions,  an  official  who  is  sent  to  the  scene  of  any  local  labor  dispute 
to  investigate  the  trouble,  make  an  effort  to  adjust  the  matter  if  that 
is  possible,  and  report  to  the  president  and  executive  board  of  the 
national  body  his  conclusions  as  to  the  situation  and  his  recommenda- 
tions as  to  what  course  should  be  pursued.  If  a  strike  is  authorized, 
the  deputy  usually  remains  on  the  scene  of  the  trouble,  assists  in  the 
direction  of  the  strike,  and  endeavors  at  all  times  to  reach  a  satisfac- 
tory settlement.  Also  called  "strike  agent."  (See  SPEC- AL  DEFENSE 
ORGANIZERS;  STRIKE  COMMITTEE;  DEPUTY  SYSTEM;  ORGANIZER.) 

[468] 


Strike  Fund.  The  money  reserve  accumulated  by  a  national 
or  local  trade  union  for  the  purpose  of  distributing  STRIKE  PAY  to 
members  engaged  in  an  industrial  dispute  is  generally  so  called. 
Various  other  designations  are,  however,  often  used — such  as  "war 
chest,"  "defense  fund,"  " resistance  fund  "  "grievance  fund,"  "emer- 
gency fund,"  "protective  fund,"  "assistance  fund,"  "contingent 
fund,"  etc.;  but  it  should  be  noted  that  the  funds  thus  designated 
are  in  some  unions  used  for  additional  or  for  different  purposes  than 
the  payment  of  strike  benefits.  Under  whatever  name,  the  strike 
fund  is  ordinarily  accumulated  in  the  form  of  small  per  capita  assess- 
ments levied  at  weekly,  monthly,  or  other  regular  intervals  on  all 
members  of  the  union.  During  a  strike  or  lockout  the  fund  is  often 
supplemented  by  SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS  levied  on  union  members 
still  at  work  in  other  localities  not  affected  by  the  dispute;  by  appro- 
priations from  the  regular  union  funds;  and  by  contributions  from 
other  unions  or  from  private  individuals  and  other  sources  outside 
the  labor  movement. 

Strike  in  Detail.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  use  this  term  in  desig- 
nation of  a  method,  often  resorted  to  in  trades  where  workers  are 
limited  in  number  and  closely-knit  in  organization,  of  bringing  an 
offending  employer  to  terms.  It  consists  in  the  workers  leaving  the 
employer  one  by  one,  without  giving  any  definite  reason  for  their 
action,  until  his  shop  is  so  disorganized  that  he  is  ready  and  willing 
to  comply  with  any  reasonable  demands.  This  plan  is  sometimes 
called  the  "individual  strike." 

Strike  Insurance.  What  employers  consider  a  necessary 
counterbalance  to  the  advantages  secured  by  trade  unions  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  STRIKE  PAY  to  their  members  is  provided  by  the  "defense 
funds"  maintained  by  many  EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATIONS.  Such  funds 
are  used  to  assist  any  member  of  the  association  whose  workers  are 
out  on  strike.  In  the  case  of  some  employers'  associations,  the 
amount  of  members'  contributions  to  this  fund  is  determined  by  the 
income  of  the  trade  union  or  unions  in  the  same  industry  or  industrial 
field.  Such  contributions  are  regarded  by  the  employers  as  premiums 
for  str  ke  insurance.  In  addition  or  as  an  alternative  to  this  form  of 
protection,  employers  often  take  out  policies  in  commercial  insurance 
companies  which  provide  for  reimbursement  of  financial  losses  oc- 
casioned by  a  strike.  In  a  wholly  different  sense,  the  term  "strike 
insurance"  has  been  applied  to  bribes  given  by  employers  to  corrupt 
labor  officials  for  the  purpose  of  buying  immunity  from  strikes  or 
other  labor  disturbances. 

[469] 


Strike  Legislation.  A  collective  designation  for  national  or 
state  laws  governing  the  use  of  INTIMIDATION  PICKETING,  the  BOY- 
COTT, etc.,  in  STRIKES  and  LOCKOUTS,  the  settlement  of  such  disputes 
by  ARBITRATION,  and  similar  matters. 

Strike  Money.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 

Strike  of  the  Machine.  A  name  sometimes  given  to  that 
form  of  SABOTAGE  which  consists  in  disabling  industrial  machinery  by 
breaking,  misplacing,  or  taking  away  some  indispensable  part. 

Strike  Order.    See  STRIKE  VOTE. 

Strike  Pay.  The  name  most  commonly  given  in  America  to 
the  periodic  (usually  weekly)  payments  made  by  labor  organizations 
to  members  who  are  collectively  engaged  in  a  STRIKE  or  other  indus- 
trial dispute.  The  payment  of  such  relief  is  ordinarily  entrusted  to 
the  national  unions,  which  thereby  acquire  a  large  degree  of  control 
over  the  calling,  management,  and  termination  of  strikes;  but  in 
some  industries  (notably  the  building  trades)  strikes  are  still  financed 
by,  and  hence  largely  controlled  by,  the  local  unions.  The  relief  to 
be  given  to  strikers  is  left  in  many  unions  to  the  national  executive 
board,  and  often  depends,  of  necessity,  upon  the  amount  of  money 
that  is  available.  Many  of  the  constitutions,  however,  fix  the  amount 
to  which  striking  members  are  entitled.  The  sum  named  is  usually 
a  bare  subsistence  wage.  Often  a  distinction  is  made  between  mar- 
ried men,  or  those  with  families  dependent  upon  them,  and  those 
who  have  no  one  to  support  but  themselves.  There  is  very  little 
tendency  to  make  the  strike  pay  in  any  degree  proportional  to  the 
customary  earnings  in  the  trade.  The  cessation  of  strike  pay  is  usu- 
ally in  the  power  of  the  executive  board.  In  many  cases  a  time  limit 
is  fixed  by  the  constitution,  though  the  executive  board  may  even 
then  have  power  to  continue  the  strike  support  by  a  special  vote. 
In  some  cases  the  amount  of  strike  pay  is  diminished  after  a  fixed 
period.  "If  the  funds  of  the  national  union  are  to  be  properly  pro- 
tected, it  is  of  course  necessary  that  some  check  be  put  upon  the 
indolence  and  greed  of  some  members,  and  upon  the  action  of  local 
officers.  Two  common  provisions  are  that  if  a  man  refuses  to  accept 
employment  in  an  establishment  not  affected  by  the  strike  his  name 
must  be  stricken  at  once  from  the  strike  roll,  and  that  if  a  member 
has  worked  for  three  or  four  days  in  any  week  he  is  not  entitled  to 
strike  pay  for  that  week.  To  make  sure  that  the  members  are  not 
earning  wages  and  drawing  strike  pay  also,  it  is  often  required  that  in 
order  to  draw  the  strike  pay  a  member  must  appear  each  day  at  the 

[470] 


local  headquarters  and  sign  a  roll.  Sometimes  the  roll  is  signed  in 
triplicate,  and  at  least  one  copy  is  sent  to  the  national  headquarters. 
A  detailed  report  of  all  payments  is  required  in  many  organizations 
to  be  sent  weekly  to  the  national  secretary.  Sometimes  strike  pay  is 
disbursed  by  two  members  chosen  by  the  local  union  for  the  purpose, 
and  known  as  clerk  and  paymaster.  The  clerk  makes  out  the  pay 
rolls  and  the  paymaster  disburses  the  money.  In  some  unions  a  third 
person  is  added,  who  is  known  as  a  receiver,  and  to  whom,  as  the 
representative  of  the  local  union,  all  strike  funds  are  turned  over." 
Strike  pay  is  sometimes  known  under  other  names — as  for  example, 
' '  strike  benefits  "  or  "  strike  money ' '  in  America ;  and  ' '  dispute  bene- 
fits," "contingent  benefits,"  or  "dispute  pay"  in  England.  (See 
TRADE  PRIVILEGE  BENEFIT;  STRIKE  FUND.) 

Strike  Paymaster.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 
Strike  Receiver.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 
Strike  Referendum.     See  STRIKE  VOTE. 
Strike  Roll.     See  STRIKE  PAY. 

Strike  Vote,  (i)  Local.  In  most  trade  unions  nationally 
organized,  a  local  STRIKE  involving  more  than  twenty-five  members 
must  be  sanctioned  by  at  least  a  majority  vote  of  the  local  union  to 
which  the  workers  belong.  It  is  usually  necessary,  in  addition,  to 
secure  the  consent  of  the  executive  board  of  the  national  union  in- 
volved, before  the  strike  can  be  declared.  In  some  local  unions, 
strike  votes  are  taken  in  asking  sanction  to  strike  from  the  national 
executive  board,  and  if  the  vote  and  the  decision  of  the  executive 
board  are  favorable  the  strike  may  be  called  at  once;  but  in  most 
unions  the  strike  vote  can  be  taken  only  after  a  favorable  reply  to  the 
"strike  application"  has  been  received  from  the  executive  board. 
(2)  National.  As  a  general  rule,  a  national  strike  must  be  sanctioned 
by  at  least  a  majority  vote  of  all  the  LOCALS  of  the  national  union 
involved.  Sometimes  a  two-thirds,  or  even  a  three-fourths,  vote  is 
required.  The  usual  procedure  is  for  the  executive  board  to  mail  to 
each  local  in  the  union  a  "strike  circular,"  setting  forth  the  grievances 
and  circumstances  which  have  led  up  to  the  proposed  strike  action. 
The  locals  must  then  immediately  vote  on  the  proposal,  and  the  re- 
sults of  the  vote  are  telegraphed  to  the  executive  board.  If  the 
strike  is  sanctioned  by  the  required  majority,  the  executive  board 
issues  a  "strike  order,"  stating  the  precise  time  when  the  strike  is  to 
begin.  In  nearly  all  cases  of  a  strike  referendum,  voting  is  by  secret 
ballot.  In  some  unions  no  one  can  take  part  in  a  strike  vote  unless 

[471] 


he  has  been  a  member  of  the  union  for  from  three  to  six  months.    (See 
STRIKE  CONTROL;  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE.) 

Strikebreaker.  A  person  who  is  hired  or  who  volunteers  to 
take  the  place  of  a  worker  on  strike.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
securing  such  persons  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  a  strike,  they  are 
often  imported  from  other  states  or  from  neighboring  regions.  LABOR 
DETECTIVE  AGENCIES  make  a  practice  of  supplying  professional 
strikebreakers  in  practically  any  desired  number;  while  some  of  the 
large  EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATIONS  keep  in  readiness  a  corps  of  skilled 
workers  to  be  used  for  this  purpose.  Volunteer  strikebreakers  are 
in  nearly  all  cases  persons  who  are  directly  antagonistic  to  organized 
labor  or  who  happen  to  be  personally  inconvenienced  by  the  par- 
ticular strike  in  progress.  But  the  great  majority  of  strikebreakers 
are  of  the  professional  type  mentioned  above.  They  are  commonly 
recruited  from  the  lowest  and  most  ignorant  classes  of  society,  and 
their  entry  into  a  disturbed  industrial  area  is  the  most  frequent 
cause  of  violence  and  disorder  in  the  labor  movement.  "The  fact 
is,"  says  the  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL 
RELATIONS,  "practically  without  exception,  either  that  the  strike- 
breaker is  not  a  genuine  workingman  but  is  a  professional  who  merely 
fills  the  place  of  the  worker  and  is  unable  or  unwilling  to  do  steady 
work,  or,  if  he  is  a  bona  fide  workingman,  that  he  is  ignorant  of  con- 
ditions or  compelled  to  work  under  duress.  The  nonworking  char- 
acter of  the  strikebreaker  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  very  few  are  ever 
retained  as  workers  after  the  termination  of  the  strike,  while  the 
attitude  of  genuine  workingmen  toward  strikebreaking  is  shown  by 
the  significant  fact  that  in  the  bids  of  employment  agencies  and 
detective  agencies  to  furnish  strikebreakers  it  is  provided  that 
guards  will  be  furnished  with  each  car  'to  prevent  escape  in  transit,' 
and  by  the  fact  that  when  men  are  candidly  informed  in  the  public 
employment  offices  of  the  existence  of  a  strike,  workers  practically 
never  apply  for  such  positions  even  though  they  may  be  in  dire 
want."  (See  SCAB;  RAT;  BLACKLEG;  ARMED  GUARDS;  MIDDLE 
CLASS  UNIONS;  VIOLENCE  IN  THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Strikebreaking.  So  many  methods  of  defeating  or  "breaking" 
a  STRIKE  have  been,  and  still  are,  practiced  that  any  complete  list 
or  summary  is  out  of  the  question  in  this  place.  Sometimes  the 
employer  plays  a  merely  passive  part,  endeavoring  to  "starve  out" 
the  workers — or,  if  he  feels  that  public  opinion  is  on  his  side,  awaiting 
the  force  of  that  opinion  to  bring  the  strikers  to  terms.  More  com- 
monly, however,  his  role  is  an  active  one.  If  the  "struck"  establish- 

[472] 


ment  belongs  to  a  large  corporation,  with  several  plants  throughout 
the  country,  workers  may  often  be  shifted  to  the  strike  area  from 
other  places,  and  operations  thus  resumed.  Professional  STRIKE- 
BREAKERS may  be  secured  from  LABOR  DETECTIVE  AGENCIES,  EM- 
PLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS,  and  other  sources;  often  negroes  and  other 
unorganized  workers  are  imported  in  large  numbers  from  other  states 
for  this  purpose.  Strikers  living  in  COMPANY  HOUSES  may  be  evicted, 
and  local  merchants  coerced  into  refusing  credit  to  workers  on  strike. 
The  INJUNCTION  may  be  invoked  to  prohibit  PICKETING  and  other 
forms  of  strike  activity,  or  the  union  leaders  may  be  enjoined  from 
taking  any  part  in  the  strike.  In  connivance  with  public  officials, 
owners  of  halls,  etc.,  the  strikers  may  be  prevented  from  holding 
public  meetings  or  even  gathering  in  groups.  Other  methods  less 
commonly  resorted  to  are  the  intimidation,  assault,  or  corruption 
of  strike  leaders;  the  "buying  up"  of  newspapers  so  that  all  news 
of  the  strike  will  be  perverted  in  favor  of  the  employer  and  against 
the  workers;  the  forcible  kidnapping  of  men  on  strike,  as  in  the 
BISBEE  DEPORTATIONS,  etc.  Many  of  these  practices,  as  specifically 
stated  in  one  or  two  instances  above,  would  be  impossible  without 
the  active  or  passive  assistance  of  public  officials  and  the  courts. 
Indeed,  such  assistance,  though  not  in  all  cases  consciously  directed 
to  such  an  end,  is  commonly  the  decisive  factor  in  breaking  any 
large-scale  or  prolonged  strike.  (See  SCAB;  BLACKLEG;  RAT;  ARMED 
GUARDS;  MIDDLE  CLASS  UNIONS;  STATE  CONSTABULARY;  TECH- 
NISCHE  NOTHILFE.) 

Strikes  in  Russia.  Industry  being  largely  nationalized  in 
present-day  Russia,  and  wages  and  working  conditions  being  generally 
under  control  of  the  workers  themselves,  the  RIGHT  TO  STRIKE  is  not 
recognized  by  the  Soviet  government  and  strikes  are  considered  "an 
act  of  treason  to  the  proletarian  revolution."  Nevertheless,  strikes 
have  occurred ;  but  there  is  no  reliable  information  as  to  the  govern- 
mental course  which  has  been  followed  with  reference  to  them.  The 
chief  cause  of  strikes,  according  to  W.  T.  Goode,  is  "the  lack  of 
elasticity  in  the  wages  tariffs." 

Striking  on  the  Job.  One  of  the  commoner  forms  of  SABOT- 
AGE, consisting  in  working  as  slowly  and  inefficiently  as  possible 
without  an  actual  stoppage.  In  brief,  it  is  the  policy  of  obstruction- 
ism in  industry — the  device  of  suspending  or  seriously  impeding  pro- 
duction without  suspending  wages.  It  is  sometimes  adopted  to  gain 
a  definite  concession  from  the  employer;  but  is  perhaps  more  often 
resorted  to  by  workers  smarting  under  defeat  in  a  regular  strike. 

1473] 


While  a  favorite  method  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  its  use  is  by  no  means 
confined  to  that  organization,  and  it  is  known  in  all  industrial  coun- 
tries under  various  names.  The  English  call  it  the  "stop  in"  (or, 
as  we  should  say,  "stay  in")  strike;  in  Japan  it  is  called  the  taigyo; 
and  so  forth.  What  are  known  as  the  "lazy  strike,"  the  "go  slow 
strike,"  the  "white  strike,"  and  the  "irritation  strike"  are  practically 
the  same  thing  as  "striking  on  the  job."  (See  CA'  CANNY ;  WORK-TO- 
RULE  MOVEMENT;  CONSCIENTIOUS  WITHDRAWAL  OF  EFFICIENCY; 
LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT.) 

Struck  Shop.  An  establishment  against  which  a  STRIKE  has 
been  declared  is  commonly  so  called  in  labor  circles. 

Struggle  for  Existence.    See  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST. 
Sub -Boss.    See  Boss. 

Sub -Contracting.  While  some  authorities  make  little  if 
any  practical  distinction  between  the  CONTRACT  SYSTEM  and  what 
is  called  "sub-contracting,"  the  latter  term  has  a  specific  meaning 
which  it  seems  worth  while  to  preserve — a  meaning  that  is  sufficiently 
indicated  in  the  term  itself.  The  building  trades  in  the  United 
States  are  largely  carried  on  under  a  system  of  sub-contracting. 
As  described  by  Professor  Commons,  "the  mason  builder,  or  general 
contractor,  secures  the  contract  from  the  owner,  or  'client,'  and 
generally  puts  up  the  brickwork;  but  he  submits  by  competitive 
bidding  all  the  other  work  to  as  many  contractors  as  there  are  kinds 
of  work.  This  system  enables  the  contractor  to  enter  the  field  with 
little  or  no  capital,  since  it  is  usually  arranged  that  partial  payments 
shall  be  made  by  the  owner  to  the  general  contractor,  and  by  him  to 
the  sub-contractors,  as  the  work  progresses."  In  the  garment  trades, 
where  sub-contracting  was  formerly  prevalent,  the  "manufacturer" 
of  ready-made  clothing  would  give  his  work  to  a  contractor  who 
was  a  responsible  party,  usually  not  a  tailor  himself.  "This  contractor 
would  then  give  the  work  to  some  man  who  kept  a  tailors'  boarding 
house  or  a  saloon  where  the  tailors  were  accustomed  to  come  together. 
This  boarding-house  keeper  or  saloon  keeper  was  a  sub-contractor, 
though  not  a  tailor.  He  in  turn  would  give  this  work  out  to  the 
individual  tailors  whom  he  personally  knew,  who  were  responsible 
for  the  work."  In  England,  sub-contracting  is  sometimes  called 
"sub-letting."  (See  SWEATING  SYSTEM;  STATION  SYSTEM;  LUMPER; 
OUTWORK.) 

Sub -District  Council.     See  DISTRICT  COUNCIL. 

[474] 


Sub-Division.     See  DIVISION. 

Sub -Letting.     See  SUB  CONTRACTING. 

Sub -Local.  A  few  American  national  unions  permit  the  or- 
ganization of  small  groups  of  isolated  members,  as  branches  of  the 
nearest  LOCAL.  "The  members  of  the  branch  pay  to  the  parent  local 
union  their  monthly  dues  and  assessments  and  are  permitted  to  at- 
tend its  meetings.  If  not  near  enough  to  attend,  they  may  hold 
separate  meetings  at  which  they  may  vote  on  all  matters  under  con- 
sideration by  other  members  of  the  local  union.  They  can  make  no 
contracts  with  employers  nor  take  any  other  action  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  society  with  which  they  are  affiliated.  When  bridge  and 
structural  iron  workers  who  are  members  of  a  union  in  some  large 
city  are  sent  away  to  perform  work  in  some  isolated  community,  they 
are  usually  permitted  to  organize  themselves  as  a  branch  of  the  local 
union  in  the  city  from  which  they  come."  Another  form  of  sub-local 
is  composed  of  members  employed  in  a  single  establishment — as 
exemplified  by  the  printers'  CHAPEL  and  by  the  SHOP  CLUB  or  SHOP 
MEETING  in  other  trades.  The  PIT  COMMITTEE  found  in  miners' 
unions  might  also  be  considered  as  belonging  to  this  class.  (See 
LANGUAGE  BRANCH;  SHOP  UNION.) 

Sub -Lodge.     See  LODGE. 

Sub-Standard  Workers.    See  MINIMUM  WAGE  LAWS. 

Subbotnik  (Saturdaying).  In  the  spring  of  1919,  while  the 
threat  of  Kolchak's  counter-revolution  in  Russia  was  greatest,  a 
meeting  of  communists  in  the  sub-district  of  the  Moscow-Kazan 
Railway  passed  a  resolution  that,  in  view  of  the  imminent  danger  to 
the  Republic,  communists  and  their  sympathizers  should  give  up  an 
hour  a  day  of  their  leisure,  and  lumping  these  hours  together  do  every 
Saturday  during  the  usual  holiday  time  six  hours  of  voluntary  unpaid 
manual  labor  in  reconstruction  work;  and,  further,  that  these  "  Com- 
munist Saturdayings"  should  be  continued  "until  complete  victory 
over  Kolchak  should  be  assured."  That  decision  of  a  local  com- 
mittee was  the  beginning  of  a  movement  which  has  since  spread  all 
over  Russia. 

Subdivision  of  Labor.    See  DIVISION  OF  LABOR. 

Subordinate  Union,  Lodge,  Division.  See  LOCAL;  LODGE; 
DIVISION. 

Subsidized  Workshops.  As  established  by  charitable  agen- 
cies in  a  number  of  large  cities,  these  are  non-competitive  workshops 

[475] 


for  the  manufacture  and  repair  of  handmade  articles,  their  chief  pur- 
pose being  to  provide  work  for  UNEMPLOYABLES  and  those  who  are 
temporarily  unable  to  secure  other  employment. 

Subsistence  Level.    See  MINIMUM  SUBSISTENCE  LEVEL. 
Subsistence  Theory  of  Wages.     See  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES. 
Subsistence  Wage.    See  LIVING  WAGE. 

Substitution.  A  term  commonly  used  in  England  during  the 
recent  war  in  designation  of  the  process  by  which  a  woman  (usually 
known  as  a  "substituted  worker")  took  the  place  of  a  male  worker 
who  was  called  into  military  service  or  advanced  to  more  important 
work.  (See  DILUTION  OF  LABOR.) 

Successive  Strike.  This  term  has  been  applied  to  the  policy, 
supported  and  sometimes  adopted  by  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF 
LABOR,  of  inaugurating  a  series  of  successive  trade  STRIKES,  one  trade 
after  another  being  selected  according  to  strength  and  strategic  po- 
sition until  all  trades  had  obtained  some  general  reform — as  for 
example,  the  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY.  This  is  favored  by  conservative  labor 
leaders  in  preference  to  the  GENERAL  STRIKE,  as  involving  at  any 
given  time  only  a  comparatively  small  number  of  workers,  who  would 
have  the  combined  support  of  all  other  unions  in  the  Federation. 

Suggestion  System.  As  a  factor  in  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRA- 
TION, this  is  the  method  of  encouraging  employees  to  submit  ideas 
for  improved  processes  or  machinery,  better  working  conditions,  in- 
creased production,  etc.  "Suggestion  boxes"  are  often  provided  for 
this  purpose  in  large  industrial  plants,  and  in  some  cases  monthly 
or  annual  prizes  are  offered  for  the  best  suggestion  submitted  by  an 
employee  of  the  plant. 

Sunday  Rest  Laws.    See  ONE  DAY'S  REST  IN  SEVEN. 

Suomen  Ammattijarjesto  (Trade  Union  Federation).  The 
principal  national  labor  body  of  Finland.  It  was  founded  in  1907, 
and  ten  years  later  had  161,000  members.  The  "white  terror"  insti- 
tuted in  1918  against  Finnish  socialists  and  trade  unionists  by  the 
reactionary  government,  under  Mannerheim's  direction,  reduced 
the  Federation's  membership  to  21,000.  But  by  October,  1920,  it 
had  risen  to  55,000.  About  two- thirds  of  the  members  are  com- 
munists. 

Super.  The  superintendent  of  a  mine  or  factory  is  often 
referred  to  by  the  workers  under  him  as  "the  super.  ' 

[476] 


Superannuation  Benefits.    See  OLD  AGE  INSURANCE. 
Superintendents.    See  SUPERVISORY  WORKERS. 

Superior  Servant  Doctrine.  In  connection  with  EMPLOYER'S 
LIABILITY,  this  refers  to  the  commonly  accepted  legal  principle  that, 
other  things  being  equal,  an  employer  is  liable  for  damages  to  an 
injured  employee  where  the  injury  is  due  to  the  exercise  of  superior 
authority  conferred  by  the  employer  upon  another  employee — as 
for  example,  in  the  case  of  a  superintendent  or  foreman.  That  is  to 
say,  if  the  agent  whose  negligence  brought  about  the  injury  to  a 
coemployee  was  performing  any  of  the  duties  properly  belonging  to 
the  employer,  he  is  regarded  not  as  a  "fellow  servant,"  but  as  a 
"superior  servant"  or  "vice  principal,"  of  the  employer,  who  thus 
becomes  liable  for  damages.  The  "superior  servant  doctrine" — or 
"vice  principal  doctrine,"  as  it  is  often  called — thus  represents  a 
limitation  of  the  "fellow-servant  rule." 

Superior  Use  Doctrine.     See  LAND  QUESTION. 

Supervisory  Workers.  Those  ^who  hold  an  intermediate  posi- 
tion between  the  management  and  the  "rank  and  file"  workers,  and 
whose  function  it  is  to  supervise  or  oversee  the  latter.  The  appoint- 
ment and  conduct  of  these  foremen,  superintendents,  and  the  like, 
as  well  as  their  relation  to  trade  unionism,  raise  many  important 
questions  in  the  labor  movement.  According  to  a  recent  British 
government  report,  "the  appointment  of  foremen  is  a  question  on 
which  there  may  be  said  to  be  three  groups  of  opinions.  Many  em- 
ployers hold  that  it  is  a  purely  management  question.  The  opposite 
extreme  to  this  is  the  claim  made  by  a  considerable  section  of  trade 
unionists  that  the  workmen  should  choose  their  own  foremen.  A 
position  intermediate  to  these  two  extremes  is  taken  up  by  a  cer- 
tain number  of  employers  and  by  a  section  of  workpeople;  the  appoint- 
ment (they  feel)  should  be  made  by  the  management,  but  it  should 
be  submitted  to  the  WORKS  COUNCIL  before  it  becomes  effective." 
The  conduct  of  supervisory  workers  in  relation  to  the  rank  and  file, 
particularly  as  regards  DISCIPLINE  and  the  discharge  of  workers,  often 
leads  to  serious  strikes.  In  relation  to  trade  unionism,  it  may  be 
said  that  supervisory  workers  are  for  the  most  part  promoted  from 
the  ranks  of  manual  wage-earners,  and  on  promotion  they  have  usu- 
ally in  the  past  come  to  regard  themselves  as  servants  of  the  employ- 
ers, with  no  further  concern  for  working-class  interests.  In  England, 
however,  they  have  not  seldom  retained  their  trade  union  connection, 
on  a  limited  basis;  and  have  sometimes  even  played  a  prominent  part 

[477] 


in  the  trade  union  movement.  In  a  few  trades  they  have  organized 
in  associations  of  their  own.  Many  American  trade  unions  definitely 
bar  foremen;  a  few  require  foremen  to  be  members;  while  in  others 
the  matter  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  local  unions.  A  definite 
standard  of  foremanship  concerning  such  matters  as  manners  and 
attitude  toward  the  workers  is  required  by  a  few  particularly  strong 
unions.  (See  FUNCTIONAL  FOREMANSHIP;  SINGLE  FOREMANSHIP; 
POLICING;  Boss;  DEPUTIES;  COMPANY  MAN;  GAFFER;  SUPER; 
OVERMAN;  CHARGE-HAND;  WALKER.) 

Supply  and  Demand,  Law  of.  The  economic  theory  that  the 
price  of  a  given  commodity  in  a  given  market  rises  if  the  demand 
increases  without  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  supply,  or  if  the 
supply  decreases  without  a  proportionate  decrease  in  the  demand. 
Conversely  stated,  the  price  falls  if  the  supply  increases  without  a 
proportionate  increase  in  the  demand,  or  if  the  demand  decreases 
without  a  proportionate  decrease  in  the  supply.  This  law,  according 
to  Mill,  "governs  the  value  of  all  things  that  cannot  be  indefinitely 
increased."  With  specific  reference  to  labor,  the  so-called  "law  of 
supply  and  demand"  was  long  the  main  support  of  a  once  popular 
doctrine,  according  to  which  (in  the  words  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb) 
"working  men  were  told,  by  friends  and  foes  alike,  that  they  could 
no  longer  be  regarded  as  citizens  entitled  to  legal  protection  of  their 
established  expectations;  that  labor  was  a  commodity  like  any  other; 
and  that  their  real  position  was  that  of  sellers  in  a  market,  entitled 
to  do  the  best  they  could  for  themselves  within  the  limits  of  the  law 
of  the  land,  but  to  no  better  terms  than  they  could,  by  the  ordinary 
arts  of  bargaining,  extract  from  those  with  whom  they  dealt.  It 
was  the  business  of  the  employer  to  buy  'labor'  in  the  cheapest 
market,  and  that  of  the  workman  to  sell  it  in  the  dearest."  As  an 
inescapable  corollary  of  this  doctrine,  all  the  efforts  of  the  work- 
ers must  be  directed  to  strengthening  their  bargaining  position 
against  the  employers  by  the  creation  of  powerful  trade  unions.  (See 
COMMODITY  THEORY  OF  LABOR;  UNEMPLOYMENT;  LABOR  SUPPLY; 
LABOR  MARKET.) 

Supreme  Council  of  Public  Economy.  One  of  the  eighteen 
main  executive  divisions  of  the  Russian  Soviet  government,  having 
in  charge  the  financing,  management,  and  correlation  of  industry, 
and  the  distribution  of  food,  fuel,  raw  materials,  etc.  It  consists 
of  sixty-nine  members,  of  whom  thirty  are  nominated  by  the  national 
"professional  alliances"  (trade  unions),  ten  by  the  All-Russian 
Central  Executive  Committee,  twenty  by  the  REGIONAL  ECONOMIC 

[478] 


COUNCILS,  and  two  by  the  cooperatives;  the  remaining  seven  are  Peo- 
ple's Commissars  or  heads  of  related  government  departments.  It  is 
under  the  general  direction  of  a  "  praesidium  "  or  governing  body  of  ten 
members,  nominated  by  the  Central  Executive  Committee  of  Trade 
Unions  and  confirmed  by  the  Council  of  People's  Commissars,  with 
a  President  (or  Commissar  of  National  Economy)  appointed  by  the 
All-Russian  Executive  Committee.  The  routine  work  of  the  Supreme 
Council  is  distributed  among  some  sixty  sections,  of  which  ten  have 
to  do  with  distribution  or  are  of  a  general  nature  (statistical,  legal, 
inspection,  etc.)  and  fifty  with  production.  Of  these  latter,  each  has 
general  control  of  one  or  more  nationally  organized  industries.  (See 
INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION  IN  RUSSIA;  NATIONALIZATION  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Surplus  Value  Theory.  The  central  point  in  Karl  Marx's 
explanation  of  the  history  and  influence  of  capital.  Morris  Hillquit 
summarizes  the  surplus  value  theory  as  follows:  "Since  the  individual 
capitalist  owns  the  tools  without  which  no  labor  can  be  performed 
in  modern  society,  and  the  laborer  owns  nothing  but  his  ability  to 
work — his  labor  power,  the  workingman  is  compelled  to  sell  that 
labor  power  to  the  capitalist  for  a  fixed  daily  wage.  His  labor  power 
is  sold  to  the  capitalist  to  be  used  for  a  day  of  a  duration  of  eight, 
ten  or  twelve  hours,  according  to  agreement,  and  the  products  of 
his  labor  are  divided  between  him  and  his  employer.  The  portion 
of  such  labor  that  falls  to  the  share  of  the  workingman  is  his  wage, 
and  the  portion  retained  by  the  manufacturing  capitalist  Marx  calls 
'surplus  value.'  The  'surplus  value'  of  the  manufacturing  capitalist 
is  by  no  means  his  clear  profit;  as  a  rule,  he  is  forced  to  divide  it  with 
the  landlord,  the  money  lender  and  the  merchant.  'Surplus  value' 
is  the  source  of  all  profits  of  the  manufacturing  and  trading  capi- 
talists, the  rents  of  the  landowning  capitalists,  and  the  interest  of 
the  money-lending  capitalists.  Thus  the  capitalists  of  all  types 
depend  upon  the  production  of  'surplus  value,'  while  the  working 
class  depends  upon  wages.  Since  wages  and '  surplus  value '  come  from 
the  same  source,  i.e.,  labor  power,  it  is  clear  that  the  proportion  of 
the  one  will  be  relatively  larger  as  the  proportion  of  the  other  is 
relatively  smaller,  and  vice  versa;  in  other  words,  the  greater  the 
share  of  capital  in  the  created  values,  the  smaller  the  share  of  labor. 
The  economic  interests  of  capital  and  labor  are,  therefore,  opposed 
to  each  other,  and  while  it  is  in  the  interest  of  the  class  deriving  its 
income  from  'surplus  value'  to  maintain  the  present  system  of  dis- 
tribution of  wealth,  the  interests  of  the  working  class  lie  in  the  aboli- 
tion of  that  system."  (See  LABOR  THEORY  OF  VALUE.) 

[479] 


Survival  of  the  Fittest.  According  to  the  Darwinian  theory 
of  evolution,  all  forms  of  organic  life  undergo  a  process  of  continual 
change  or  modification  under  the  influence  of  environment,  consti- 
tuting in  effect  an  unending  "struggle  for  existence,"  and  in  this 
struggle  those  individuals  "which  are  best  fitted  for  the  complex 
and  in  the  course  of  ages  changing  conditions  to  which  they  are  ex- 
posed generally  survive  and  procreate  their  kind,"  the  weaker  or 
unfit  forms  being  gradually  eliminated  in  this  process  of  "natural 
selection."  The  industrial  barons  of  Darwin's  day  were  not  slow  to 
grasp  the  surface  implications  of  this  theory,  as  applied  to  the  eco- 
nomic field;  and  from  that  day  to  this  it  has  been  widely  and  generally 
utilized  to  justify  the  most  ruthless  forms  of  economic  exploitation, 
on  the  false  ground  that  it  was  no  less  applicable  to  man's  artificial 
arrangements  than  to  the  process  of  natural  evolution.  From  this 
standpoint  also,  SOCIALISM  and  kindred  altruistic  theories  are  held 
to  be  arbitrary  interferences  with  natural  law,  and  therefore  pre- 
doomed  to  failure.  The  real  significance  of  Darwin's  theories,  as  far 
as  they  may  be  applied  by  analogy  to  the  industrial  field,  are,  how- 
ever, almost  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  social  idealists.  (See  MUTUAL 
AID;  COMPETITIVE  SYSTEM.) 

Suspension.     See  FINANCES  OF  TRADE  UNIONS;  DISCIPLINE. 

Sweat  Shop.  A  place  where  industrial  work  is  carried  on 
under  the  general  conditions  described  in  the  entry,  SWEATING 
SYSTEM.  Low  rent  and  a  situation  in  or  close  to  the  congested  dis- 
tricts of  foreign-born  workers  are  commonly  the  most  essential  fac- 
tors in  the  case  of  sweat  shops.  Such  shops  are  usually  found  in  city 
alleys,  in  attics,  on  top  floors,  above  stables,  and  often  in  the  tene- 
ments or  other  homes  of  the  workers.  If  machinery  is  required,  it  is 
almost  always  of  the  foot-power  type. 

Sweater.  A  common  designation  for  any  employer  of  labor 
under  conditions  involving  excessive  working  hours,  meagre  wages, 
and  insanitary  or  otherwise  unwholesome  surroundings  for  the 
workers.  In  the  garment  trades  the  "sweater  "  is  usually  a  contractor 
or  sub-contractor  who  takes  out  material  owned  by  the  "manu- 
facturer" and  returns  it  to  him  as  a  finished  garment.  On  the  other 
hand  the  small  manufacturer  may  impose  the  same  oppressive  and 
unwholesome  conditions  upon  his  workers  as  does  the  contractor,  and 
so  is  no  less  a  "sweater."  (See  SWEATING  SYSTEM;  LITTLE  MASTER). 

Sweating  System.  A  term  rather  too  loosely  used  to  permit 
of  exact  definition,  but  in  general  applying  to  any  industrial  work  in 

[480] 


which  the  following  conditions  prevail:  (i)  A  rate  of  wages  inade- 
quate to  the  necessities  of  the  workers  or  disproportionate  to  the 
work  done;  (2)  excessive  hours  of  labor;  (3)  insanitary  or  otherwise 
unwholesome  working  quarters.  The  system  is  now  chiefly  confined 
to  the  manufacture  of  garments,  paper  flowers,  millinery  ornaments, 
and  other  cheap  hand-made  articles.  It  is  possible,  however,  in  any 
industry  carried  on  (i)  in  large  and  overcrowded  cities,  particularly 
in  those  containing  a  considerable  percentage  of  foreign-born  workers; 
(2)  under  the  CONTRACT  SYSTEM;  and  (3)  by  hand  work  only,  or  with 
inexpensive  machinery.  In  its  earlier  form  the  sweating  system  was 
practically  identical  with  the  system  of  SUB-CONTRACTING,  "the 
difference  between  the  price  paid  the  contractor  and  the  price  paid 
the  sub-contractor  or  actual  worker  being  considered  as  'sweated* 
from  the  normal  earnings  of  the  latter.  Of  late  years,  however,  the 
tendency  has  been  to  reduce  the  cost  by  eliminating  the  sub-con- 
tractor, without  in  any  way  changing  the  labor  conditions."  Ac- 
cording to  Professor  Commons,  "the  system  to  be  contrasted  with 
the  sweating  system  is  the  'factory  system,'  wherein  the  manufac- 
turer employs  his  own  workmen,  under  the  management  of  his 
own  foreman  or  superintendent,  in  his  own  building,  with  steam, 
electric,  or  water  power.  In  the  sweating  system  the  foreman 
becomes  a  contractor,  with  his  own  small  shop  and  foot-power 
machine.  In  the  factory  system  the  workmen  are  congregated 
where  they  can  be  seen  by  the  factory  inspectors  and  where 
they  can  organize  or  develop  a  common  understanding.  In  the 
sweating  system  they  are  isolated  and  unknown."  According 
to  Adams  and  Sumner,  "three  principal  varieties  of  sweating  have 
been  distinguished.  First,  individuals  may  labor  in  their  own 
homes  with  the  assistance  only  of  members  of  their  families. 
A  great  deal  of  custom  work  is  done  in  this  way  by  skilled  journey- 
men tailors.  For  the  most  part,  however,  this  is  the  lowest  type  of 
sweat  shop  labor,  and  is  frequently  carried  on  under  conditions  of 
indescribable  filth  and  squalor.  .  .  .  Secondly,  individuals  may  labor 
in  their  homes  with  hired  assistance  for  particular  operations.  This 
is  the  typical  form  of  sweating,  under  which  the  living  apartments 
are  turned  into  factories  in  which  outsiders  are  employed,  and  fre- 
quently also  boarded.  .  .  .  The  SWEATER,  in  this  case,  is  not  merely  a 
contractor,  but  is  the  head  workman,  and  often  the  only  person  in  the 
shop  who  understands  all  the  different  processes  involved  in  the  mak- 
ing of  a  garment.  It  is  against  these  shops  that  legislation  is  particu- 
larly directed.  The  third  variety  of  sweating  is  carried  on  in  work- 
rooms used  especially  for  that  purpose.  These  are  sometimes  con- 

[481] 


nected  with  the  living  rooms  of  the  sweater,  but  sometimes  they  are 
in  buildings  which  are  not  used  for  residential  purposes.  ...  As  the 
size  of  the  shop  and  the  number  of  employees  increase,  the  sweater 
becomes  more  and  more  an  overseer,  driving  the  laborers  to  the 
greatest  possible  speed  for  the  longest  possible  hours."  The  evils  of 
the  sweating  system  have  led  to  regulative  legislation,  of  one  sort  or 
another,  in  several  European  countries  and  in  twelve  states  of  this 
country.  (See  CONTRACT  SYSTEM  IN  THE  GARMENT  TRADES;  TASK 
SYSTEM;  HOME  WORK;  SWEAT  SHOP;  TENEMENT-HOUSE  WORK; 
LITTLE  MASTER;  PARASITIC  INDUSTRIES;  UNDER-EMPLOYMENT; 
CONSUMERS'  LEAGUES.) 

Swedish  Industrial  Conciliators.  Under  a  law  which  came 
into  force  in  1907,  Sweden  is  divided  into  seven  districts,  and  an 
industrial  conciliator  is  appointed  by  the  crown  for  each  district. 
The  conciliator  must  reside  within  his  district,  and  his  principal  duty 
is  to  promote  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  employers  and 
work-people  or  between  members  of  either  class  among  themselves. 
He  is  also  on  request  to  advise  and  otherwise  assist  employers  and 
work-people  in  framing  agreements  affecting  the  conditions  of  labor 
if  and  so  far  as  agreements  are  designed  to  promote  good  relations 
between  the  two  classes  and  to  obviate  stoppages  of  work. 

Swedish  National  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  See  LANDS- 
ORGANISATION  i  SVERGE. 

Swift.    See  SPEEDING  UP. 

Swiss  Federation  of  Trade  Unions.  See  SCHWEIZERISCHEN 
GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND. 

Sygekassen.    See  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES. 

Sympathetic  Boycott.  A  labor  BOYCOTT  instituted  by  per- 
sons not  directly  involved  in  any  dispute  between  employers  and 
employees,  but  whose  action  is  due  to  sympathy  with  the  cause  of 
workers  who  are  thus  involved. 

Sympathetic  Strike.  In  its  commonest  form,  a  STRIKE  called 
by  workers  who  have  no  direct  grievance  against  their  employer  but 
who  are  acting  in  order  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  in  favor  of  other 
workers  who  are  involved  in  a  strike  or  LOCKOUT.  The  purpose  which 
such  a  strike  supports  is  usually  economic — that  is  to  say,  it  has  to 
do  wholly  with  relations  between  employers  and  employees.  But 
sympathetic  strikes  for  political  ends  are  by  no  means  a  rarity.  In 

[482] 


such  cases  they  are  generally  intended  to  exert  pressure  in  favor  of 
some  worker  or  group  of  workers  suffering  actually  or  supposedly 
from  governmental  persecution  or  injustice.  Very  little  mention  is 
made  of  sympathetic  strikes  in  the  written  constitutions  of  the  na- 
tional unions.  Two  or  three  except  sympathetic  strikes  from  the 
restrictions  imposed  in  other  cases,  so  far  as  to  permit  local  unions, 
though  forbidden  generally  to  strike  without  the  previous  approval 
of  the  national  executive  board,  to  join  in  a  sympathetic  strike 
without  previous  approval,  and  still  to  be  entitled  to  the  support  of 
the  national  organization,  provided  the  national  executive  board  is 
satisfied,  after  investigation,  that  the  local  acted  with  discretion. 
The  sympathetic  strike  in  its  common  or  economic  form  is  occasion- 
ally referred  to  as  the  "multiplied  strike."  It  has  been  most  fre- 
quently resorted  to  in  the  building  trades. 

Syndicalism.  Derived  from  syndicat,  meaning  a  local  trade 
union,  the  French  term  syndicalisms  meant  originally  "trade  union- 
ism," and  is  still  often  used  in  that  sense  in  France.  The  opposition 
between  revolutionaries  and  reformists  in  the  French  labor  move- 
ment gave  rise  to  the  terms  syndicalisme  revolutionnaire  and  syn- 
dicalisme  reformiste,  as  designations  for  the  opposing  theories  and 
methods  of  the  two  factions.  Then  later,  because  of  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  revolutionary  group,  its  doctrine  came  to  be  known  as 
syndicalisme  simply;  and  from  that  usage  the  name  passed  into 
other  countries.  But  it  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  the  original 
meaning  of  the  term,  as  showing  that  syndicalism  is  not  merely  an 
untried  theory  or  philosophy,  but  a  practical  development  from 
actual  facts  and  conditions  in  the  French  labor  movement.  The 
central  doctrine  of  syndicalism  is  that  the  worker  should  control  the 
conditions  of  his  work — that  industry  should  be  managed  solely  by 
the  producers,  organized  in  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS.  Its  underlying  basis 
is  the  CLASS  STRUGGLE,  "the  war  of  the  exploited  against  the  ex- 
ploiters," the  denial  that  social  peace  is  possible  or  desirable  under 
CAPITALISM.  In  the  minds  of  syndicalists,  the  political  State,  with  its 
army  and  its  official  BUREAUCRACY,  exists  to  protect  and  foster  cap- 
italistic property,  and  so  the  State  must  be  swept  away  before  cap- 
italism can  be  abolished.  The  actual  producers,  organized  in  indus- 
trial unions,  TRADES  COUNCILS,  and  a  general  federation  of  industrial 
unions  and  trades  councils,  will  carry  on  the  present  activities  of  the 
State.  Syndicalism  is  thus,  in  essence,  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM 
with  the  State  left  out.  In  regard  to  method,  Marx's  phrase,  "the 
emancipation  of  labor  must  be  the  work  of  labor  itself,"  is  the  watch- 

[483] 


word  of  the  movement.  Bourgeois  society  can  only  be  supplanted 
as  the  workers  develop  "social  tissue"  of  their  own,  and  create  new 
organisms  capable  of  expressing  their  desires  and  serving  their  in- 
terests. Through  the  avenue  of  industrial  unionism,  and  rejecting 
all  political  methods,  alliances,  and  compromises,  syndicalism  aims 
finally  to  capture  the  State  by  means  of  the  national  or  "social" 
GENERAL  STRIKE,  and  then  to  substitute  for  it  a  government  of  trade 
unions  which  would  regard  all  its  citizens  in  their  primary  capacity 
as  producers  rather  than  consumers.  SABOTAGE  and  the  BOYCOTT — 
every  form  of  DIRECT  ACTION,  in  fact — are  to  be  employed  as  inci- 
dental or  transient  means  in  achieving  this  end.  Syndicalism  thus 
frankly  relies  upon  coercion,  the  pitting  of  organized  working-class 
force  against  organized  capitalistic  force.  But  such  coercion  does 
not  necessarily  imply  violence,  in  the  sense  of  bloodshed  and  destruc- 
tion; and  violence  has  in  fact  hitherto  played  but  a  small  part  in  the 
movement.  The  syndicalist  scorns  SOCIALISM  as  a  palliative  and  com- 
promise. He  is  at  one  with  the  anarchist  in  his  hostility  to  the  State; 
but  whereas  he  would  simply  substitute  for  the  present  State  another 
form  of  authority — that  of  trade  unionism — the  true  anarchist  is 
opposed  to  every  form  of  coercive  government.  There  is  some  com- 
mon ground  between  syndicalism  and  COOPERATION,  and  still  more 
between  syndicalism  and  GUILD  SOCIALISM;  but  in  both  cases  the 
differences  heavily  outweigh  the  resemblances.  In  France,  the  syn- 
dicalist movement  is  closely  allied  with  what  is  known  as  anarchist 
communism,  though  this  term  leaves  out  of  account  the  fundamental 
industrial  basis  of  syndicalism.  Originating  as  it  did  within  the 
French  labor  movement,  syndicalism  is  most  properly  associated  with 
the  CONFEDERATION  GENERALE  DU  TRAVAIL,  within  which  body  it  has 
long  been  the  dominant  philosophy.  There,  however,  it  assumes  a 
much  milder  form  than  in  some  of  the  countries  to  which  it  has 
been  exported — notably  America,  where  the  syndicalism  of  the 
I.  W.  W.  has  little  in  common  with  the  French  movement.  (See 
INDUSTRIALIZED  NATIONALIZATION;  SOCIALISM  OF  INSTITUTIONS; 
CRIMINAL  SYNDICALISM  LAWS;  BORING  FROM  WITHIN;  CE-GE-TEIST; 
INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRATS;  MINERS'  NEXT  STEP;  GRAND  NATIONAL; 
NEO-MARXIANS.) 

Syndicalisme  Reformiste.    See  SYNDICALISM. 
Syndicalisme  Revolutionnaire.    See  SYNDICALISM. 
Syndicalist  Unionism.     See  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM. 

Syndicate  Unico.   See  CONFEDERACION  GENERAL  DEL  TRABAJO. 

[484] 


Syndicat.  In  ordinary  French  usage,  a  local  trade  union. 
The  word  generally  refers  to  a  trade  union  composed  of  manual 
wage-earners;  although  such  an  organization  is,  strictly  speaking, 
a  syndicat  ouvrier.  The  syndicats  are  mainly  of  the  industrial  type 
(syndicats  d' Industrie);  the  craft  unions  (syndicats  de  metier]  having 
largely  disappeared.  By  far  the  larger  number  are  "fighting"  organ- 
izations devoted  to  revolutionary  ends;  these  are  often  termed 
syndicats  rouges,  or  "red  syndicats."  The  minority  represent  the 
REFORMIST  element,  favoring  POLITICAL  ACTION,  moderation,  com- 
promise, and  OPPORTUNIST  methods  in  general.  While  these  are 
sometimes  called  syndicats  jaunes  or  "yellow  syndicats,"  that  term 
is  more  commonly  applied  to  the  unions  initiated  or  controlled  by 
employers  and  to  the  MIDDLE  CLASS  UNIONS.  What  are  known  as 
syndicats  mixtes,  or  "mixed  syndicats,"  are  usually  mere  benefit 
societies,  often  attached  to  particular  factories.  The  syndicats 
agricoles  are  unions  of  agricultural  laborers,  and  play  little  part 
in  the  general  industrial  movement.  The  syndicats  are,  in  the  main, 
federated  by  localities  in  the  BOURSES  DU  TRAVAIL;  by  districts,  in 
the  UNIONS  REGIONALES;  by  provinces,  in  the  UNIONS  DEPART- 
MENT ALES;  and  nationally,  in  the  FEDERATIONS  D'!NDUSTRIE, 
although  a  few  craft  federations  (Federations  de  Metier)  still  survive. 
They  also  affiliate  with  the  national  central  organization,  the  CON- 
FEDERATION GfiNfiRALE  DU  TRAVAIL — both  indirectly,  through  the 
above-mentioned  federated  bodies,  and  directly.  But  within  all  of 
these  local,  regional,  and  national  organizations,  most  of  them 
retain  almost  complete  local  autonomy.  (See  SYNDICALISM;  MARQUE 
SYNDICALE.) 

System  Federations,  (i)  Delegate  bodies  representative  of 
the  various  national,  international,  and  brotherhood  organizations 
affiliated  with  the  RAILWAY  EMPLOYEES'  DEPARTMENT  of  the  AMER- 
ICAN FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  Each  system  federation  is  represen- 
tative of  such  organizations  for  a  single  railway  system  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  It  elects  its  own  officers,  holds  regular  meetings, 
and  through  an  advisory  board  of  five  members  negotiates  with  the 
management  in  regard  to  grievances  and  other  matters.  These 
system  federations  are  chartered  directly  by  the  Railway  Employees' 
Department,  and  are  subject  to  the  latter's  control.  They  are  en- 
titled to  send  delegates  to  the  Department's  biennial  convention. 
(2)  The  so-called  "big  four"  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS,  which  are 
not  affiliated  with  the  A.  F.  of  L.,  have  a  plan  according  to  which, 
after  the  fulfilment  of  certain  stringent  conditions,  federations  may 
32  [  485  ] 


be  formed  on  individual  railroad  systems  by  two  or  more  of  the 
brotherhoods.  The  conditions  for  the  entrance  of-  any  brotherhood 
into  a  system  federation  are  that  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  the 
organization  on  the  system  involved  shall  have  voted  in  favor  of 
federation  and  the  chief  executive  of  the  organization  shall  have 
given  his  approval.  These  federations  exist  mainly  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  grievances.  (See  CEDAR  RAPIDS  '  PLAN  ;  BROTHERHOOD 
COOPERATIONS.) 


T 


T.  A.    See  TRIPLE  ALLIANCE. 

T.  U.  C.    See  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS. 

Taff  Vale  Decision.  Growing  out  of  a  suit  brought  by  the 
Taff  Vale  Railway  in  South  Wales  against  the  Amalgamated  Society 
of  Railway  Servants  for  damages  sustained  in  connection  with  a 
strike  involving  breach  of  contract,  this  was  an  opinion  handed 
down  in  1902  by  the  British  House  of  Lords,  in  its  judicial  capacity, 
declaring  that  a  trade  union  is  a  corporate  body  to  the  extent  that  it 
can  be  sued  and  held  liable  for  the  acts  of  its  agents.  Agitation  over 
this  decision,  which  imperilled  all  trade  union  funds  and  virtually 
nullified  the  fighting  power  of  organized  British  labor,  was  largely 
responsible  for  the  election  of  thirty  LABOR  MEMBERS  to  Parliament  in 
1906;  and  finally  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  TRADE  DISPUTES  ACT 
of  1906,  which  removed  the  liability. 

Taigyo.    See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 
Tally  System.    See  LIVERPOOL  DOCK  SCHEME. 
Tame  Union.    See  COMPANY  UNION. 
Tantum.    See  STINT. 

Task,  (i)  In  general,  a  fixed  and  definite  amount  of  work,  as 
dealt  with  in  the  entry,  TASK  SYSTEM.  (2)  In  connection  with  SCIEN- 
TIFIC MANAGEMENT,  a  standard  amount  of  work  of  a  prescribed  quality 
which  must  be  completed  within  a  given  time  to  make  the  worker 
eligible  for  a  bonus  or  premium  in  addition  to  his  regular  daily  wage. 
The  setting  of  the  task  (the  amount  of  work)  in  relation  to  the  TASK 
TIME  (the  maximum  time  allotted  for  its  completion)  is  accomplished 
by  detailed  TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY,  allowance  being  usually  made 
for  necessary  shop  delays  and  also  for  the  health  of  the  worker. 

Task  and  Bonus  System.     See  GANTT  SYSTEM. 

[487] 


Task  Management.    See  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT. 
Task  Master.     See  TASK  SYSTEM. 
Task  Setting.     See  TASK. 

Task  System  or  Task  Work.  In  a  general  sense,  the  system 
or  method  under  which  a  single  worker  or  group  of  workers  is  re- 
quired to  finish  a  specified  amount  of  work  (commonly  called  the 
"task"  or  STINT  or  "dead  line")  within  a  given  period  of  time  or 
else  suffer  a  reduction  in  wages  for  that  period,  although  no  addi~ 
tional  wages  are  paid  for  any  excess  of  output.  "Needless  to  say," 
according  to  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  "this  system  is  strenuously  opposed  by 
the  workers,  nor  does  it  exist  in  any  organized  trade;  but  many  of 
the  features  of  the  task-work  system  exist  in  those  cases  in  which  a 
certain  output  is  rigidly  exacted,  and  the  worker  who  fails  to  reach 
that  output  is  at  once  dismissed.  In  these  cases  there  is  no  deduc- 
tion from  wages  for  failure  to  produce  the  standard  amount;  but  in 
certain  trades  the  threat  of  summary  dismissal  has  even  more  effect 
in  securing  the  imposition  of  a  '  task '  than  could  ever  be  exercised  by 
deductions  from  wages.  Task-work  is  a  variant  of  TIME-WORK  in 
that  the  payment  made  is  proportionate  not  to  output,  but  to  time 
spent ;  but  in  it  the  common  basis  of  the  two  systems  appears  in  the 
clearest  form,  since  a  minimum  output  is  the  condition  of  receiving 
the  time-wage."  The  term  "task  system"  is  often  used  with  specific 
reference  to  the  method  of  manufacturing  followed  in  the  small 
Jewish  "contract  shops"  of  New  York  City  engaged  in  making  men's 
coats.  This  system  has  two  main  characteristics.  First,  there  is  a 
"team"  or  "set"  of  workers  (usually  three  in  number),  each  of  whom 
performs  a  special  part  of  the  manufacturing  process;  each  member 
of  the  team  has  to  keep  up  with  the  others,  so  that  a  faster  rate  of 
speed  by  any  one  of  the  three  necessitates  a  faster  rate  by  the  other 
two.  Seco'nd,  there  is  fixed  by  the  contractor  or  "taskmaster"  who 
runs  the  shop  a  certain  "  task  "  or  number  of  coats  that  must  be  turned 
out  in  a  day;  this  is  called,  and  paid  for  as,  a  day's  labor,  although  it 
may  actually  require  fourteen  or  fifteen  hours  to  perform  it.  By  this 
means  the  fiction  is  maintained  that  standard  daily  or  weekly  wages 
are  being  paid;  although  actually  the  workers,  being  able  to  produce 
but  four  or  five  "tasks"  a  week,  receive  only  a  scanty  PIECE  WORK 
wage.  Wages  are  reduced  from  time  to  time  by  the  simple  process 
of  increasing  the  daily  "task."  As  in  other  forms  of  the  SWEATING 
SYSTEM,  the  workers  are  thus  continually  driven  to  over-exertion. 
(See  PRODUCTION  STANDARDS.) 

1 


Task  Time.  In  connection  with  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  this 
is  the  amount  of  time,  determined  by  detailed  TIME  AND  MOTION 
STUDY,  which  is  required  for  turning  out  a  given  quantity  of  work  by 
an  individual  worker.  It  differs  from  the  BASE  TIME  in  that  the  latter 
is  determined  by  past  performance  or  by  estimate,  rather  than  by 
"scientific"  study.  The  standard  TASK  must  be  completed  within 
the  "task  time"  to  make  the  worker  eligible  for  a  bonus. 

Taylor  System.  A  "science  of  industrial  conservation  and 
a  technique  for  increasing  output  and  lowering  production  costs," 
formulated  by  an  American  engineer,  Frederick  W.  Taylor.  The  dis- 
tinctive features  of  this  system,  in  its  broader  aspects,  are  "the  reli- 
ance on  law  and  principle,  FUNCTIONAL  FOREMANSHIP,  the  EXCEP- 
TION PRINCIPLE  intended  to  aid  in  securing  proper  balance  and  co- 
ordination of  men,  and  the  principle  of  discipline  for  the  conscious 
purpose  of  securing  harmony  rather  than  the  mere  upholding  of 
authority."  In  its  dealings  with  individuals,  the  Taylor  system  "lays 
special  stress  on  the  principles  of  selection  to  fit  the  job,  individual 
training  for  their  better  accomplishment,  an  extension  of  SPECIALIZA- 
TION to  the  utmost  limit  which  the  size  of  the  industry  permits,  def- 
inite and  positive  control  over  all  processes  and  operations,  and  the 
predetermined  and  conscious  stimulation  of  the  men  to  the  greatest 
degree  of  exertion  consistent  with  their  continued  health  by  means 
of  a  special  reward  in  the  form  of  a  'bonus,'  a  'premium,'  or  a  'high 
rate'  for  superior  accomplishment."  These  theories  and  principles 
form  the  underlying  basis  of  what  is  now  known  as  SCIENTIFIC  MAN- 
AGEMENT, of  which  Taylor  was  the  pioneer  and  leader.  (See  EMER- 
SON SYSTEM;  GANTT  SYSTEM;  DIFFERENTIAL  PIECE  RATE  SYSTEM; 
TAYLORISM.) 

Taylorism.  The  theory  and  practice  of  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGE- 
MENT are  sometimes  so  called — from  the  name  of  its  pioneer  pro- 
moter, Frederick  W.  Taylor. 

Teach -Worker.  An  especially  competent  or  experienced 
worker  who  is  employed  to  instruct  his  fellow-workers  is  sometimes 
so  called. 

Teachers'  Unions.  The  first  American  combination  of  school 
teachers  along  ordinary  trade  union  lines  was  formed  in  1916,  in 
Chicago.  To-day  about  150  LOCALS  are  represented  in  the  American 
Federation  of  Teachers,  a  national  body  affiliated  with  the  AMERI- 
CAN FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  The  Federation  of  Teachers  has  four 
ORGANIZERS  actively  engaged  in  spreading  the  union  idea.  It  issues 

[489] 


an  official  organ,  "The  American  Teacher."  There  are  a  number  of 
teachers'  unions  in  Great  Britain,  foremost  of  which  is  the  National 
Union  of  Teachers,  with  about  100,000  members.  The  British  move- 
ment possesses  a  propagandist  and  coordinating  organization  in  the 
Teachers'  Labor  League. 

Team  System.     See  TEAM  WORK. 

Team  Work.  In  general,  this  term  refers  to  the  plan  under 
which  an  article  is  manufactured  or  an  industrial  operation  carried 
on  by  two  or  more  persons  working  in  unison,  each  person  performing 
one  particular  process  of  the  complete  operation,  and  the  group  rather 
than  the  individual  being  considered  as  the  industrial  unit.  "Each 
member  of  the  group  is  compelled  to  maintain  the  pace  set  by  the 
fastest,  or  forfeit  his  place  by  impeding  the  work  of  the  whole.  The 
two  bricklayers  at  the  ends  of  a  wall  put  up  the  line  as  fast  as  they 
build  their  portions,  and  the  men  between  must  keep  up  with  it. 
In  making  a  coat,  three  men  commonly  work  together — a  machine 
operator,  a  baster,  and  an  edge  baster  or  finisher.  No  one  may  slacken 
his  pace,  no  matter  how  weary  or  sick;  for  if  one  slackens,  the  work  of 
the  whole  team  is  balked."  Either  the  whole  group  may  be  paid  on 
the  basis  of  their  collective  output,  or  the  most  important  workers 
may  be  paid  in  accordance  with  the  results  of  the  whole  group's 
work,  the  others  being  remunerated  on  a  time  basis.  In  a  more 
limited  sense,  the  arrangement  under  which  a  skilled  JOURNEYMAN 
in  any  craft  or  occupation  hires  and  pays  his  own  HELPER  (often  a 
boy  or  girl),  or  works  in  joint  agreement  with  another  journeyman, 
is  sometimes  called  "team  work"  or  the  "team  system."  The  term 
"partnering"  is  occasionally  used  in  a  sense  apparently  synonymous 
with  "team  work."  (See  TASK  SYSTEM;  BUCK  OR  BERKSHIRE  SYS- 
TEM; COMPANIONSHIP.) 

Technical  Education.    See  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION. 

Technische  Nothilfe.  A  semi-official  "emergency  engineer 
corps"  organized  for  STRIKEBREAKING  purposes  in  Germany  during 
the  autumn  of  1919.  It  was  made  up  mainly  of  technical  experts, 
supplemented  by  skilled  and  unskilled  workers  in  various  occupations. 
Its  main  purpose  was  to  carry  on  essential  industries  during  strikes. 
Central  headquarters  in  Berlin  and  district  headquarters  in  various 
parts  of  Germany  were  maintained.  Owing  to  trade  union  opposi- 
tion, the  active  career  of  the  corps  was  brief;  though  it  seems  still  to 
maintain  some  sort  of  existence. 

Ten -Day  Workers.    See  MIGRATORY  WORKERS. 

[490] 


Tenants'  Copartnership  Societies.  Cooperative  associa- 
tions in  England  which  enable  members  to  become  part  owners  of 
the  community  by  investing  in  the  company  stock.  The  member 
lives  in  a  house  whose  rent  is  based  on  expense  for  use,  instead  of 
on  land-and-house-scarcity,  manipulated  by  private  enterprise  for 
profits.  The  unearned  increment  of  land  value  is  used  for  decreasing 
rents  and  bettering  the  public  services  of  the  community.  The 
member  is  in  possession  of  his  home  for  as  long  a  time  as  he  holds 
his  investment  in  the  company  stock.  Also  called  "copartnership 
tenancy  societies." 

Tenement -House  Work.  In  the  larger  American  cities  a 
considerable  amount  of  industrial  work  is  done  in  the  homes  of  the 
poor,  often  all  the  members  of  a  family  devoting  the  greater  part  of 
their  time  to  such  work.  Either  complete  articles — such  as  cigars, 
cigarettes,  artificial  flowers,  garments,  caps,  etc. — may  be  manu- 
factured in  this  way,  or  the  "finishing"  of  articles  partly  made  in 
machine  workshops  may  be  carried  on.  Such  work,  characterized 
as  it  usually  is  by  congestion,  insanitary  conditions,  unregulated 
hours,  and  unrestricted  CHILD  LABOR,  has  generally  proved  a  menace 
to  health,  wage  standards,  and  existing  labor  laws;  and  indeed  it  is 
inevitably  associated  with  some  of  the  worst  evils  of  the  SWEATING 
SYSTEM.  As  a  result,  several  states  have  enacted  legislation  either 
prohibiting  certain  kinds  of  tenement-house  work  or  attempting  its 
regulation  by  licensing,  registration,  inspection,  etc.  The  prohibitory 
laws  have  usually  been  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  courts, 
while  attempts  at  regulation  have  in  the  main  proved  unsatisfactory. 
Tenement-house  work  in  the  manufacture  of  clothing  for  the  United 
States  army  and  navy  is  prohibited  under  a  Federal  statute.  (See 
HOME  WORK;  TENEMENT  TAG.) 

Tenement  Tag.  In  the  attempt  to  regulate  TENEMENT-HOUSE 
WORK,  a  few  states  require  that  whoever  sells  or  offers  for  sale 
any  goods  (chiefly  wearing  apparel)  made  in  unlicensed  tenements 
shall  affix  to  each  article  so  made  a  conspicuous  tag  or  label  with  the 
words  "Tenement  Made"  legibly  printed  thereon,  as  well  as  the 
name  of  the  state  and  city  where  the  article  was  made.  In  New  York 
the  factory  inspector  himself  affixes  the  tag.  In  some  states  the  goods 
thus  tagged  or  labeled  cannot  be  sold  or  offered  for  sale;  but  in  any 
case  the  implications  of  the  tag  are  such  that  the  goods  are  practically 
unsaleable.  A  similar  system  was  adopted  several  years  ago  in  New 
Zealand. 

Territorial  Jurisdiction.     See  JURISDICTION. 

[491  1 


Territorial  Division  of  Labor.  The  concentration  of  special 
branches  of  production  in  different  countries,  or  in  different  geo- 
graphical areas  of  the  same  country,  according  to  special  facilities  or 
advantages  provided  by  such  countries  or  areas,  is  sometimes  known 
as  "territorial  division  of  labor."  (See  LOCALIZATION  OF  INDUSTRY; 
SPECIALIZATION.) 

Textile  Schools.  Technical  schools  for  specialized  instruction 
in  the  practical  and  artistic  phases  of  the  textile  industry.  Such 
schools  are  in  general  intended  more  for  the  training  of  technical 
experts,  or  those  who  wish  to  become  superintendents  or  foremen, 
than  for  the  rank  and  file  of  wage-earners.  Instruction  is  given  in 
weaving,  dyeing,  designing,  the  choice  and  use  of  materials,  and 
other  related  matters. 

Third  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONALE;  COMMUNIST 
INTERNATIONALE;  Moscow  INTERNATIONAL  COMMUNIST  MANI- 
FESTO; LENIN'S  TWENTY-ONE  CONDITIONS;  INTERNATIONAL  COUN- 
CIL OF  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS. 

Three  Eights.  Denotes  the  working-class  ideal  of  a  day 
divided  into  three  equal  periods  of  eight  hours  each — one  period  for 
work,  another  for  play,  and  the  third  for  sleep.  (See  EIGHT-HOUR 
DAY.) 

Three -Gang  Method.  As  a  direct  result  of  the  SPLIT-FEE 
SYSTEM,  which  tempts  a  foreman  to  make  constant  changes  in  his 
labor  force,  there  has  developed  in  railroad  and  other  construction 
work  what  is  sometimes  called  the  "three-gang  method" — that  is 
to  say,  on  any  given  job  at  any  given  time  three  separate  gangs  of 
laborers  are  or  may  be  directly  involved:  one  gang  working  on  the 
job,  another  gang  coming  to  work  from  the  employment  agent,  and 
a  third  gang  on  its  way  back  to  the  city. 

Three -Position  Plan.  As  devised  by  the  American  "efficiency 
expert"  Gilbreth,  this  is  a  method  of  EMPLOYMENT  MANAGEMENT 
which  considers  each  advanced  employee  in  an  industrial  organization 
as  in  a  certain  sense  occupying  three  different  positions:  the  one  he 
previously  held,  the  one  he  holds  for  the  time  being,  and  the  one  for 
which  he  is  in  line  for  promotion.  Thus  each  employee  is  considered 
in  the  triple  aspect  of  a  worker,  a  student,  and  a  teacher. 

Three -Rate  System  of  Wage  Payment.  A  form  of  the  PRE- 
MIUM BONUS  SYSTEM  which  consists  of  (i)  paying  every  worker  a 
usual  or  customary  daily  wage — called  the  low  rate;  (2)  paying  a 

[492] 


bonus  of  ten  per  cent  over  the  daily  wage  when  a  worker  conforms 
to  the  exact  method  stipulated  in  his  instruction  card,  but  yet  does 
not  achieve  the  standard  TASK — called  the  middle  rate;  (3)  paying 
a  bonus  of  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  per  cent  when  the  worker 
achieves  or  exceeds  the  standard  task — called  the  high  rate. 

Three -Shift  System.     See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Ticket  Steward.  In  the  British  building  trades,  a  local  trade 
union  official  who  examines  the  men  taken  into  employment  on  a 
building  job,  with  a  view  to  verifying  their  union  credentials  and 
standing,  etc. 

Timber  Wolf.  A  "migratory"  worker  (usually  a  member  of 
the  I.  W.  W.)  in  the  Western  lumber  camps  is  so  nicknamed. 

Time  Agreement.    See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Time  and  a  Half.  In  connection  with  the  increased  rate  of 
wages  commonly  paid  for  OVERTIME  work,  this  phrase  denotes  an 
increase  of  fifty  per  cent  over  the  regular  hourly  rate  for  all  time 
worked  beyond  the  customary  or  standard  limit.  "Time  and  a 
quarter"  represents  a  twenty-five  per  cent  increase,  while  "double 
time"  is  twice  the  regular  hourly  rate.  Where  payment  is  made  on  a 
PIECE  WORK  basis,  the  terms  "rate  and  a  half,"  "double  rate,"  etc., 
are  commonly  used  in  designation  of  parallel  increases  over  the 
normal  piece  rate. 

Time  and  Motion  Study.  The  essential  and  fundamental 
device  by  which  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  aims  "to  discover  and  put 
into  effect  the  objective  facts  and  laws  of  industrial  efficiency."  In 
the  larger  and  more  theoretical  sense,  it  consists,  according  to  Pro- 
fessor Hoxie,  of  "little  less  than  a  universal  method  of  attempted 
accurate  industrial  analysis,  usable  with  or  without  the  stop-watch, 
to  discover,  at  almost  every  step  of  the  productive  and  distributive 
process,  not  only  the  most  effective  material,  organic,  and  human 
arrangements,  adaptations,  and  combinations,  but  the  reasonable 
demands  which  can  be  made  upon  the  intelligence  and  energy  of  the 
management  as  well  as  the  men,  and  the  just  apportionment  of  the 
product  to  all  the  factors  and  individuals  concerned."  In  its  simpler 
practical  application,  it  consists  in  the  determination  of  the  least 
possible  time  and  the  least  possible  expenditure  of  human  or  me- 
chanical energy  required  to  perform  an  individual  job  or  task,  by 
recording,  analyzing,  and  synthesizing  the  time  and  motions  of  the 
worker  in  each  of  the  constituent  operations,  the  result  of  this  process 

[493J 


being  made  the  basis  for  payment  of  the  worker.  (See  TIME  STUDY; 
MOTION  STUDY;  TIME-STUDY  MAN;  TASK;  OVER-ALL  TIME  STUDY ; 
EMERSON  SYSTEM;  GANTT  SYSTEM.) 

Time  of  Wage  Payment.  It  is  generally  accepted  as  a  part 
of  the  wage  bargain  that  the  worker  shall  receive  pay  at  the  end  of 
a  certain  period  of  work;  in  other  words,  he  advances  to  his  employer 
a  day's  work,  or  a  week's  work,  or  a  month's  work,  as  the  case  may 
be,  and  at  the  end  of  the  time  receives  his  pay.  The  longer  the  in- 
terval between  payments,  therefore,  the  larger  is  the  loan  which  the 
worker  makes  to  his  employer  without  interest.  Practically  all  foreign 
countries  and  two-thirds  of  th6  states  in  this  country  have  attempted 
to  regulate  the  time  of  wage  payment,  and  have  adopted  weekly  or 
fortnightly  payment  laws  applying  either  to  all  employers  or  only  to 
corporations  or  special  industries.  In  the  United  States  such  laws 
have  been  often  declared  unconstitutional,  as  interfering  with  FREE- 
DOM OF  CONTRACT.  Other  forms  of  "time  of  payment  laws"  require 
that  payment  of  wages  shall  be  made  during  working  hours,  that  a 
discharged  employee  shall  be  paid  immediately  upon  discharge,  and 
that  an  employee  quitting  shall  be  paid  on  the  next  regular  pay  day. 

Time  Study.  As  inherent  in  all  schemes  of  SCIENTIFIC  MAN- 
AGEMENT, this  process  is  described  by  G.  D.  H.  Cole  as  follows: 
"Before  a  job  is  priced  [i.e.  before  the  worker's  wage  on  the  particular 
job  is  fixed]  an  expert  rate-fixer  will  overlook  the  doing  of  the  job 
under  ideal  conditions  by  a  selected  worker.  He  will  note  the  time 
taken  not  merely  for  the  operation  as  a  whole,  but  for  all  the  various 
parts  of  which  the  operation  is  made  up — the  handling  time,  the  ma- 
chine time,  and  not  merely  these  in  general,  but  handling  and  machine 
times  divided  into  the  greatest  possible  number  of  distinct  but  con- 
nected operations.  .  .  A  study  of  this  kind  will  be  repeated  several 
times  with  the  same  or  different  workmen  and  on  the  same  or  different 
machines.  When  a  sufficient  mass  of  data  has  been  accumulated,  the 
experts  will  proceed  to  work  out  the  time  that  ought  to  be  allowed 
for  the  doing  of  the  job.  They  will  add  together  the  various  times 
taken  for  the  particular  parts  of  the  operation  under  test  conditions 
and  will  make  an  allowance  of  so  much  per  cent  on  the  total  time 
taken,  or  perhaps  different  percentages  for  machine  time  and  hand- 
ling time.  These  allowances  will  be  made  in  order  that  the  time 
fixed  for  the  job  may  not  be  the  least  time  in  which  the  job  can  be 
done  by  a  good  workman  under  ideal  conditions,  but  may  allow  a 
margin  sufficient  to  enable  the  ordinary  worker  engaged  from  day 
to  day  upon  the  job  to  make  upon  it  a  percentage  over  and  above  his 

[  494  1 


day-rate."  The  stop  or  split-second  watch,  for  timing  each  opera- 
tion or  part  of  an  operation,  is  an  indispensable  adjunct  to  this  proc- 
ess, which  is  therefore  often  colloquially  known  as  "stop-watching." 
(See  TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY;  OVER-ALL  TIME  STUDY;  TIME- 
STUDY  MAN.) 

Time -Study  Man.  An  official  in  an  industrial  plant  operated 
under  any  system  of  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT,  who  conducts  the 
TIME  AND  MOTION  STUDY  in  the  plant.  Under  the  TAYLOR  SYSTEM, 
which  involves  the  use  of  the  split-second  watch,  he  must  be  an 
experienced  and  technically  trained  chronometrist. 

Time  Work.  The  system  or  method  of  wage  payment  under 
which  the  worker  is  paid  according  to  a  unit  of  time — by  the  hour, 
day,  or  week — instead  of  according  to  a  unit  of  production  or  unit  of 
effort,  as  in  PIECE  WORK.  While  the  two  systems  thus  seem  to  be 
fundamentally  opposed,  they  in  fact  possess  a  common  basis.  A  time 
work  system  is  never  without  relation  to  output,  because  an  employer 
invariably  expects  a  certain  amount  of  work  from  the  workman, 
whom  he  can  discharge  if  this  amount  is  not  forthcoming.  As  it  is 
put  by  Schloss,  in  his  "Industrial  Remuneration":  "Although  under 
the  method  of  time-wage  the  remuneration  of  the  employee  is  fixed 
without  any  direct  reference  to  the  amount  of  labor  which  he  shall 
perform  within  a  given  period,  yet  the  performance  of  not  less  than, 
or  not  more  than  a  given  amount  of  work  within  a  given  period  of 
time  forms  in  many  cases  virtually  a  part  of  the  contract  between  the 
employee  working  on  time-wage  and  his  employer."  On  the  other 
hand,  piece  work  prices  are  almost  invariably  fixed  with  reference 
to  a  time  standard.  When  such  a  standard  is  definitely  stated  and 
enforced,  time  work  passes  over  into  the  TASK  SYSTEM.  The  time 
work  method  is  usually  adopted  when  one  or  more  of  certain  condi- 
tions prevail,  as  for  example:  (i)  When  the  quantity  of  output  is 
not  easily  measurable  or  ascertainable;  (2)  when  the  article  produced 
is  the  joint  product  of  several  workers;  (3)  when  delicate  and  costly 
machinery  is  used;  (4)  when  the  material  utilized  is  expensive; 
(5)  when  the  work  is  of  an  abnormal  nature,  such  as  repair  work. 
(See  WAGE  PAYMENT  METHODS;  OVERTIME;  GRADING  SYSTEM; 
INCREMENTAL  SCALE;  PRODUCTION  STANDARDS;  DAY  WORK;  HOUR 
WORK;  WEEK  WORK;  STAB  WORK;  BONUS  SYSTEM;  PREMIUM  BONUS 
SYSTEM;  HORIZONTAL  WAGE.) 

Timekeeping.     See  CLOCKING. 

Timing.     See  TIME  STUDY. 

[495] 


Timekeeping  Committee.  In  British  industry,  a  special 
joint  committee,  representing  both  workers  and  management,  which 
endeavors  to  reduce  the  number  of  absentees  from  work  and  to  plan 
ways  and  means  for  increasing  output.  In  coal-mining,  such  a  com- 
mittee is  variously  known  as  the  Pithead,  Output,  or  Absentee 
Committee. 

Tipple  Time.  In  connection  with  coal-mining,  "tipple  time" 
is  a  term  used  to  denote  the  actual  time  during  which  a  mine  is  being 
operated,  as  expressed  in  hours  or  in  days.  The  "tipple"  is  the  place 
where  loaded  cars  from  the  coal  pit  are  tipped  or  unloaded. 

Tolling.  The  practice,  on  a  worker's  part,  of  paying  tribute 
to  a  foreman  or  superintendent  for  the  privilege  of  being  given  em- 
ployment or  securing  promotion.  (See  JOB  SELLING.) 

Tommy.  Originally  a  popular  nickname  in  England  for  a 
penny  roll,  then  by  extension  for  bread  and  provisions  of  any  kind. 
With  the  introduction  of  the  TRUCK  SYSTEM,  or  the  payment  of  work- 
ers in  goods  rather  than  in  money,  "tommy"  was  soon  generally 
used  as  a  synonym  for  that  system.  A  "tommy  shop"  was  an 
employer's  shop  conducted  under  the  truck  system;  while  "  to  tommy  " 
meant  to  enforce  that  system,  or  to  oppress  or  defraud  workers  by 
means  of  the  system. 

Tommy  Shop.    See  TOMMY. 

Tonnage  Men.  Those  workers  in  steel  mills,  coal  mines,  etc., 
who  are  paid  on  a  PIECE  WORK  basis — that  is  to  say,  at  so  much  per 
ton  of  material  produced  or  handled — are  often  so  called. 

Tool  Insurance.  In  those  trades  where  it  is  customary  for 
workers  to  provide  their  own  tools  (e.g.,  carpentry,  wood  working, 
etc.)  the  trade  union  commonly  insures  the  tools  of  its  members 
against  loss  by  fire  or  other  accident.  In  some  unions  a  special  tool 
insurance  fund  is  maintained  apart  from  the  regular  benefit  fund, 
small  periodical  assessments  being  made  upon  the  members  in  sup- 
port of  the  fund. 

Tory.    See  REACTIONARY. 

Town  Economy.  This,  the  second  historical  stage  in  economic 
organization,  is  chiefly  marked  by  the  first  differentiation  between 
producer  and  consumer  and  by  the  first  use  of  money  as  a  medium 
of  exchange.  Whereas  the  basis  of  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMY  is  blood- 
relationship,  that  of  town  economy  is  contiguity.  The  consumer 

[496] 


under  household  economy  is  either  himself  a  laborer  or  the  owner  of 
laborers;  under  town  economy  he  makes  a  direct  purchase  of  labor 
(wage  work)  or  of  the  product  of  labor  (handicraft).  There  is  the 
formation  of,  or  division  into,  trades  within  the  town,  or  a  partition 
of  production  between  town  and  country.  Itinerant  trade  is  succeeded 
by  market  trade,  but  the  ENTREPRENEUR  has  not  yet  appeared.  As 
town  economy  succeeded  household  economy,  so  it  was  in  turn 
gradually  superseded  by  NATIONAL  ECONOMY.  (See  HANDICRAFT 
SYSTEM;  GUILD.) 

Town  Union.  A  labor  organization  whose  entire  membership 
consists  of  workers  in  a  single  town  or  locality.  The  Butte  Work- 
ingmen's  Union,  made  up  of  unskilled  laborers  employed  in  the 
Butte  copper-mining  district,  is  an  example  of  this  type  of  organiza- 
tion. It  differs  from  an  ordinary  local  union  in  that  it  has  no  affilia- 
tion with  any  national  or  international  union,  or  with  locals  in  any 
other  cities. 

Towne  System.    See  GAIN  SHARING. 

Trade.  In  connection  with  labor  affairs,  this  term  usually 
denotes  either  (i)  a  specific  craft  or  occupation  in  the  field  of  manual 
employments;  or  (2)  the  collective  body  of  workers  engaged  at  a 
single  specific  craft  or  occupation. 

Trade  Agreement.  A  formal  compact  resulting  from  COLLEC- 
TIVE BARGAINING  between  an  employer  or  group  of  employers  and 
one  or  more  trade  unions,  and  dealing  with  wages,  hours,  conditions 
of  employment,  or  any  other  matters  connected  with  the  relation- 
ships between  employers  and  employees.  It  seeks  to  establish, 
through  mutual  and  voluntary  adjustments,  a  joint  code  of  working 
relations  that  will  make  unnecessary  any  resort  to  the  strike  or 
lockout,  and  will  tend  to  cooperation  and  industrial  peace.  The 
essential  parts  of  a  typical  trade  agreement  are  described  by  Pro- 
fessor Hoxie  as  follows:  "(i)  A  preamble,  defining  the  parties  to 
the  agreement,  its  scope  or  field,  its  duration,  and  its  general  purpose. 
(2)  A  legislative  code,  giving  the  WORKING  RULES,  etc.  The  points 
covered  by  the  legislative  part  of  the  agreement  range  from  wages 
and  hours  to  the  most  minute  regulation  of  all  the  technical  condi- 
tions or  incidents  of  work  and  pay.  (3)  A  judicial  code  defining  the 
mode  of  interpretation.  (4)  An  executive  part,  providing  a  mode 
of  enforcement.  Not  all  trade  agreements  have  all  these  distinct  and 
essential  parts.  They  range  from  the  rudimentary  ones,  including  the 
preamble  and  legislative  code,  to  those  which  are  most  formal  and 

[497] 


elaborate,  containing  all  parts."  Trade  agreements  may  be  local, 
regional,  or  national  in  scope,  and  they  may  relate  to  either  a  single 
establishment,  a  single  craft,  or  an  entire  industry.  They  may  run 
for  a  definite  specified  period  (known  as  "time  agreements")  or  they 
may  be  terminated  at  any  time  upon  due  notice  by  either  side 
(called  "indeterminate  agreements").  It  should  be  noted  that  the 
law  does  not  usually  recognize  a  trade  agreement  as  a  contract. 
"The  courts  will  not  usually  enforce  it  as  they  enforce  individual 
contracts.  Such  a  contract,  so  called,  will  not  bind  anybody  by  the 
force  of  law.  A  contract  with  a  trade  union  is  not  a  contract  in  law 
— it  is  merely  an  understanding,  or  a  usage,  or  a  joint  agreement, 
that,  when  the  real  LABOR  CONTRACT  is  made  between  individual 
employer  and  employee,  it  will  be  made  according  to  the  terms  of 
the  joint  agreement.  .  .  .  The  legislature  might,  of  course,  change 
the  law  and  provide  for  the  legal  enforcement  of  the  collective  bar- 
gain. This  would  be  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION.  But  as  it  now  stands 
a  joint  trade  agreement  is  a  kind  of  usage  or  understanding  agreed 
to  by  two  opposing  interests  and  generally  enforced  on  individuals  by 
the  coercive  weapons  of  STRIKE,  LOCKOUT,  BOYCOTT,  or  BLACKLIST." 
If  trade  agreements  were  legally  enforceable  the  employing  side,  as 
ex-Secretary  of  Labor  Wilson  has  recently  pointed  out,  "would  be 
free,  in  a  contingency  prejudicial  to  that  side,  to  ignore  its  contract 
with  impunity  by  restricting  or  stopping  output  as  unprofitable; 
yet  if  the  contingency  were  prejudicial  to  the  wage  earners,  they 
could  not  quit  work  without  subjecting  themselves  to  penalties  of 
the  law  for  a  breach.  To  permit  collective  bargains  to  be  legally 
enforceable  would  be  to  discourage  the  making  of  them;  to  leave 
their  fulfillment  to  the  good  sense  and  good  faith  of  each  side,  would 
encourage  their  making  and  thereby  promote  industrial  peace." 
Trade  agreements  are  also  variously  known  as  collective,  joint, 
labor,  industrial,  and  working  agreements;  also  as  collective  bar- 
gains, union  contracts,  and  labor  contracts.  (See  AGREEMENT 
SYSTEM;  EXCLUSIVE  AGREEMENT;  NATIONAL  AGREEMENT;  SHOP 
AGREEMENT;  STANDARD  AGREEMENT;  WAGE  AGREEMENTS  IN  GER- 
MANY; TRADE  ARBITRATION.) 

Trade  Arbitration.  Both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Great 
Britain  it  is  common  to  find  boards  composed  of  an  equal  number  of 
representatives  of  organizations  of  employers  and  employees,  which 
have  power  to  decide  authoritatively  minor  disputes  between  members 
of  the  organizations.  In  Great  Britain  these  are  often  called  boards 
of  conciliation,  but  in  this  country  they  are  more  commonly  known 

[498]    ' 


as  arbitration  boards  or  arbitration  committees.  The  term  "arbi- 
tration "  seems  fairly  applicable  to  the  decisions  of  such  committees, 
despite  the  fact  that  there  is  no  appeal  to  any  person  outside  the 
trade.  The  settlement  of  disputes  in  such  cases  is  not  reached  by 
negotiation  directly  between  the  parties  concerned,  but  by  the  bind- 
ing decision  of  higher  representatives  of  the  organizations  to  which 
they  belong— representatives  supposedly  free  from  the  personal  bias 
and  feelings  of  animosity  which  are  likely  to  exist  among  those  im- 
mediately concerned  in  disputes.  This  system  of  settling  differences 
within  the  trade,  without  appeal  to  outside  agencies,  is  often  called 
"trade  arbitration"  or  "arbitration  within  the  trade."  But  even 
when  outside  umpires  or  arbitrators  are  called  in,  these  phrases  are 
sometimes  used,  as  distinguishing  the  general  system  described  from 
any  form  of  state  or  other  governmental  method  of  arbitrating  indus- 
trial disputes.  (See  ARBITRATION;  CONTINUOUS  ARBITRATION;  IM- 
PARTIAL CHAIRMAN;  IMPARTIAL  MACHINERY;  CONFERENCE  BOARDS; 
LABOR  MANAGER;  AGREEMENT  SYSTEM;  ADJUSTMENT  BOARD; 
GRIEVANCE  COMMITTEE.) 

Trade  Autonomy.     See  AUTONOMY. 
Trade  Benefits.     See  BENEFITS. 

Trade  Boards.  Under  the  original  British  Trade  Boards  Act 
of  1909,  these  were  statutory  bodies  set  up  to  fix  MINIMUM  WAGES  in 
four  notoriously  "sweated"  trades — chain-making,  lace-finishing, 
box-making,  and  tailoring.  In  1918  the  Act  was  amended  so  as  to 
be  applicable  to  other  industries.  As  the  law  now  stands,  the  Minis- 
ter of  Labor,  if  he  considers  that  there  is  no  effective  machinery  for 
the  regulation  of  wages  throughout  a  trade  and  that  in  view  of  the 
rate  of  wages  prevailing  in  it  a  trade  board  is  desirable,  may  make 
a  special  order  with  a  view  to  setting  up  a  board.  It  is  open  to  any 
interested  party  to  object  and  to  demand  an  inquiry,  but  the  Minister 
has  complete  discretion  to  take  whatever  action  he  thinks  best,  when 
he  has  heard  the  result  of  the  inquiry.  The  trade  board  consists  of 
an  equal  number  of  representatives  of  employers  and  workers  in  the 
trade,  to  whom  is  added  a  neutral  chairman,  and  two  or  four  persons 
unconnected  with  the  trade,  who  are  known  as  "appointed  members." 
The  size  of  the  board  depends  upon  the  size  of  the  trade.  The  board 
must  fix  a  minimum  rate  or  rates  of  wages  for  TIME  WORK,  and,  where 
no  other  rate  has  yet  been  fixed,  piece  workers  must  be  paid  at  rates 
sufficient  to  yield  an  ordinary  worker  at  least  as  much  as  the  minimum 
time  rate.  The  board  can  fix  different  rates  for  different  classes  of 

[499] 


workers  or  for  different  districts.  When  the  minimum  wages  fixed 
by  a  trade  board  have  been  confirmed  by  the  Minister  of  Labor, 
they  are  enforceable  by  criminal  proceedings,  and  officers  are  ap- 
pointed to  secure  their  observance.  The  minimum  rates  thus  become 
part  of  the  law  of  the  land. 

Trade  Boycott.     See  BOYCOTT. 

Trade  Club.  The  oldest  and  simplest  type  of  labor  organ- 
ization, consisting  of  a  comparatively  small  number  of  workers  fol- 
lowing the  same  occupation  in  the  same  locality.  Historically,  the 
trade  club  was  the  governmental  unit  of  the  early  labor  organizations, 
although  in  some  trades  the  workers  of  a  single  establishment  were 
grouped  in  a  SHOP  CLUB,  such  as  the  printers'  CHAPEL,  which  was, 
and  still  is — an  important  administrative  unit  of  the  trade  union. 
In  America  at  least,  the  trade  clubs  are  now  extinct,  having  gradually 
expanded  into  or  been  absorbed  by  the  local  trade  unions. 

Trade  Dispute.  As  officially  defined  in  the  British  NATIONAL 
INSURANCE  ACT,  a  trade  dispute  means  "any  dispute  between  em- 
ployers and  workmen  or  between  workmen  and  workmen,  which  is 
connected  with  the  employment  or  non-employment,  or  the  terms  of 
employment,  or  with  the  conditions  of  labor,  of  any  persons,  whether 
workmen  in  the  employment  of  the  employer  with  whom  the  dispute 
arises  or  not."  (See  STRIKE.) 

Trade  Disputes  Act.  Following  the  momentous  TAFF  VALE 
DECISION,  which  vitally  undermined  the  fighting  strength  of  British 
trade  unionism,  five  years  of  agitation  on  the  part  of  organized 
British  labor  resulted,  in  1906,  in  the  passage  of  a  Parliamentary 
enactment  known  as  the  Trade  Disputes  Act.  This  measure,  which 
is  perhaps  the  most  important  piece  of  labor  legislation  in  recent 
times,  contains  the  following  provisions:  "(i)  An  agreement  or  com- 
bination of  two  or  more  persons  to  do  or  procure  to  be  done  any  act 
in  contemplation  or  furtherance  of  a  trade  dispute  between  employ- 
ers and  workmen  shall  not  be  indictable  as  a  conspiracy  if  such  an 
act  committed  by  one  person  would  not  be  punishable  as  a  crime. 
An  act  done  in  pursuance  of  an  agreement  or  combination  by  two  or 
more  persons  shall,  if  done  in  contemplation  or  furtherance  of  a  trade 
dispute,  not  be  actionable  unless  the  act,  if  done  without  any  such 
agreement  or  combination,  would  be  actionable.  (2)  An  action  against 
a  trade  union,  whether  of  workmen  or  masters,  or  against  any  mem- 
bers or  officials  thereof  on  behalf  of  themselves  and  all  other  members 
of  the  trade  union  in  respect  of  any  tortious  act  alleged  to  have  been 

[500] 


committed  by  or  on  behalf  of  the  trade  union,  shall  not  be  entertained 
by  any  court.  (3)  An  act  done  by  a  person  in  contemplation  or 
furtherance  of  a  trade  dispute  shall  not  be  actionable  on  the  ground 
only  that  it  induces  some  other  person  to  break  a  contract  of  employ- 
ment or  that  it  is  an  interference  with  the  trade,  business,  or  employ- 
ment of  some  other  person,  or  with  the  right  of  some  other  person  to 
dispose  of  his  capital  or  his  labor  as  he  wills.  (4)  It  shall  be  lawful 
for  one  or  more  persons,  acting  either  on  their  own  behalf  or  on  be- 
half of  a  trade  union  or  of  an  individual  employer  or  firm  in  contem- 
plation or  furtherance  of  a  trade  dispute,  to  attend  at  or  near  a  house 
or  place  where  a  person  resides  or  works  or  carries  on  business  or 
happens  to  be,  if  they  so  attend  merely  for  the  purpose  of  peacefully 
obtaining  or  communicating  information,  or  of  peacefully  persuading 
any  person  to  work  or  abstain  from  working.  (5)  Every  person  who, 
with  a  view  to  compel  any  other  person  to  abstain  from  doing  or  to 
do  any  act  which  such  other  person  has  a  legal  right  to  do  or  abstain 
from  doing,  wrongfully  and  without  legal  authority — (a)  uses  violence 
to  or  intimidates  such  other  person  or  his  wife  or  children,  or  injures 
his  property;  or  (6)  persistently  follows  such  other  person  about 
from  place  to  place;  or  (c)  hides  any  tools,  clothes,  or  other  property 
owned  or  used  by  the  other  person,  or  deprives  him  of  or  hinders 
him  in  the  use  thereof;  or  (d)  watches  or  besets  the  house  or  other 
place  where  such  other  person  resides,  or  works,  or  carries  on  busi- 
ness, or  happens  to  be,  or  the  approach  to  such  a  house  or  place;  or 
(e)  follows  such  other  person  with  two  or  more  other  persons  in  a 
disorderly  manner  in  or  through  any  street  or  road,  shall  on  convic- 
tion thereof  by  a  court  of  summary  jurisdiction,  or  an  indictment  as 
hereinafter  mentioned,  be  liable  either  to  pay  a  penalty  not  exceed- 
ing twenty  pounds,  or  to  be  imprisoned  for  a  term  not  exceeding 
three  months,  with  or  without  hard  labor."  It  is  worth  noting  that 
the  British  courts  have  since  decided  that  a  trade  union  need  not  be 
actually  engaged  in  a  dispute  in  order  to  gain  the  protection  of  the 
Trade  Disputes  Act.  This  measure  is  generally  regarded  as  the  main 
charter  of  British  trade  unionism. 

Trade  Education.     See  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION. 
Trade  Extension  Schools.     See  PART-TIME  SCHOOLS. 
Trade  Jurisdiction.     See  JURISDICTION. 
Trade  Monopoly.     See  MONOPOLY  POLICY  OF  TRADE  UNIONISM. 

Trade  Movements.     STRIKES  and   LOCKOUTS  are  sometimes 
so  called  by  trade  unionists. 

[501] 


Trade  Organs.  Nearly  every  important  labor  organization  of 
national  scope  in  the  United  States  issues  a  periodical  devoted  wholly 
or  mainly  to  the  organization's  own  interests.  There  are,  of  course, 
very  broad  differences  of  policy  and  of  value  between  the  journals  of 
the  several  organizations.  Many  of  them  contain  interesting  dis- 
cussions, from  the  trade  union  point  of  view,  of  important  social 
questions.  Others  are  confined  entirely  to  the  chronicling  of  events 
whose  interest  is  practically  confined  to  the  members  of  the  par- 
ticular trade  concerned.  Some  of  them  publish  in  every  issue  a  list 
of  all  the  LOCALS  of  their  organizations  and  of  the  principal  local 
officers.  Some  devote  much  space  to  local  reports  of  the  condition 
of  trade.  They  are  generally  the  medium  of  the  financial  reports 
of  the  national  officers,  and  detailed  reports  of  accessions  and  losses 
of  membership  are  often  given.  The  great  majority  of  the  journals 
are  published  monthly.  A  few  appear  weekly.  In  many  cases  they 
are  sent  free  to  all  members  of  the  organization,  and  are  supported 
either  out  of  the  general  funds  of  the  organization  or  by  a  special 
tax.  These  journals  are  usually  edited  by  one  of  the  regular  officers 
of  the  national  union,  but  in  a  few  cases  a  special  editor  is  employed. 
(See  LABOR  PRESS.) 

Trade  Parliament.  This  term  is  often  used  in  England  as 
synonymous  with  a  NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  under  the 
WHITLEY  PLAN. 

Trade  Preparatory  Schools.     See  PART-TIME  SCHOOLS. 

Trade  Privilege  Benefit.  As  occasionally  found  in  some 
trade  unions  (as  for  example  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters 
and  Joiners),  this  is  in  practical  effect  a  combined  strike  and  lockout 

BENEFIT. 

Trade  Risk  Principle.  As  sometimes  recognized  in  EMPLOY- 
ER'S LIABILITY  laws,  this  is  the  principle  or  conception  that  a  large 
number  of  industrial  accidents  occur  through  no  fault  of  either  em- 
ployer or  employee,  but  simply  as  a  consequence  of  certain  industrial 
processes,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  the  "general  hazard  of  the 
industry";  and  that  the  employer,  as  the  representative  of  the  in- 
dustry, should  bear  the  financial  burden  of  such  accidents,  rather 
than  the  injured  worker.  The  social  and  legal  recognition  of  this 
principle  paved  the  way  in  large  part  for  the  idea  of  WORKMEN'S 
COMPENSATION.  The  term  "professional  risk"  is  sometimes  used 
in  designation  of  this  principle. 

Trade  Rules.     See  WORKING  RULES. 

I  502  ) 


Trade  Schools.  As  a  direct  substitute  for  APPRENTICESHIP, 
the  trade  school  aims  to  impart  a  thorough  practical  knowledge  of 
some  specific  trade  or  craft.  Such  schools  are  sometimes  a  part  of 
the  public  educational  system;  sometimes  they  are  organized  and 
maintained  under  private  endowment;  sometimes  they  are  carried 
on  in  connection  with  large  industrial  establishments,  for  the  train- 
ing of  beginners.  In  its  simplest  form,  trade  school  instruction 
"is  confined  entirely  or  chiefly  to  the  workshop,  and  consists  in  per- 
fecting the  pupil  in  the  practice  of  the  manipulations  and  operations 
of  skilled  workmen  at  particular  trades."  The  training  may  be  either 
brief  and  intensive,  or  it  may  cover  a  period  of  three  or  four  years. 
As  a  general  rule,  trade  schools  do  not  admit  applicants  under  six- 
teen years  of  age.  (See  AUCHMUTY  SYSTEM;  PART-TIME  SCHOOLS; 
FACTORY  SCHOOLS;  RAILWAY  SCHOOLS;  TEXTILE  SCHOOLS;  FACH- 
SCHULEN;  £COLES  NATIONALES  PROFESSIONALES.) 

Trade  Tests.  Methods  of  determining  the  skill  or  capacity 
of  industrial  workers — particularly  applicants  for  jobs.  The  tests 
consist  usually  of  (i)  a  series  of  questions,  written  answers  to  which 
are  required;  (2)  pictures  in  which  the  worker  is  asked  to  identify 
tools  or  parts  of  machinery;  (3)  actual  performance  tests  at  the 
specific  work.  In  addition,  general  intelligence  tests  are  sometimes 
given,  also  tests  to  disclose  any  specialized  ability.  (See  RATING  SCALE . ) 

Trade  Union.  Perhaps  the  best  general  definition  of  this 
term  is  that  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb:  "A  continuous  asso- 
ciation of  wage-earners  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  or  improving 
the  conditions  of  their  working  lives."  Associations  of  this  sort  have 
existed  in  England  for  more  than  two  centuries,  and  in  the  United 
States  since  1792,  under  various  names — institutions,  associations, 
clubs,  societies,  TRADE  CLUBS,  trade  societies,  unions,  union  societies, 
etc.  In  the  early  thirties  of  the  igth  century,  the  term  TRADES'  j 
UNION  began  to  appear  in  both  England  and  the  United  States,  in ; 
designation  of  a  union  of  the  trades  in  a  single  city.  Later,  in  the 
form  "trade  union,"  the  term  was  turned  back  and  applied  to  the 
separate  trade  clubs  or  trade  societies,  and  then  to  the  national  or; 
international  unions  of  local  societies  in  the  same  trade.  When  the 
local  American  trade  unions  of  a  single  city  again  began  to  unite  in 
the  sixties,  the  resulting  combinations  were  called  "trades'  assem- 
blies," "central  labor  unions,"  etc.  Now  the  general  term  CENTRAL 
BODIES  or  CITY  CENTRALS  is  used  in  the  United  States  to  designate 
what  were  the  "trades'  unions"  of  the  thirties  and  the  "trades' 
assemblies,"  etc.,  of  the  sixties,  and  the  terms  "trades  union"  and 

[503] 


"trade  union"  are  used  interchangeably  in  designation  of  any  form 
of  organization  on  the  part  of  wage-earners  "to  improve  or  maintain 
the  conditions  of  their  working  lives."  Geographically  speaking,  a 
trade  union  may  be  either  (i)  heal,  including  the,  workers  of  a  single 
town  or  city;  (2)  district,  covering  a  larger  territorial  subdivision  of 
a  country;  (3)  national,  covering  an  entire  country;  (4)  continental, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  American  "international"  unions 
which  maintain  local  units  in  Canada  or  Mexico;  (5)  intercontinental, 
as  in  the  case  of  those  British  unions  which  maintain  branches  in 
America  and  other  English-speaking  countries;  or  (6)  international, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  International  Miners'  Federation,  which  covers 
practically  the  entire  world.  The  CRAFT  UNION  and  the  INDUSTRIAL 
UNION  represent  the  two  main  structural  types  of  trade  union  or- 
ganization; although  these,  like  the  main  functional  types  (BUSINESS 

UNIONISM,    REVOLUTIONARY   UNIONISM,    UPLIFT    UNIONISM,    etc.)    tend 

to  overlap  or  vary  in  such  a  way  that  strict  classification  is  difficult 
without  formulating  several  sub-species.  According  to  Professor 
Hoxie,  the  trade  union  "goes  back  in  its  genesis  ultimately  to  the 
common  needs  and  problems  of  the  wageworkers;  it  arises  immedi- 
ately out  of  the  consciousness  of  the  common  or  group  character  of 
those  needs  and  problems;  it  exists  for  common  action  looking  to 
the  betterment  of  the  living  conditions;  it  appears  primarily  as  a 
group  interpretation  of  the  social  situation  in  which  the  workers  find 
themselves,  and  a  remedial  program  in  the  form  of  aims,  policies,  and 
methods;  the  organization  and  the  specific  form  or  structure  which 
it  takes  are  merely  the  instruments  which  the  group  adopts  for  propa- 
gating its  viewpoint  and  putting  its  program  into  effect."  Among 
modern  social  theorists,  the  conception  of  the  trade  union  ranges 
from  that  of  a  useful  means  of  raising  wages  and  shortening  hours  in 
industry,  to  that  of  the  sole  instrument  for  the  abolition  of  CAPITALISM 
and  the  WAGE  SYSTEM.  But  whether  its  ultimate  aims  be  "peaceful " 
or  "revolutionary,"  the  immediate  and  fundamental  object  of  a  trade 
union  is  to  put  the  seller  of  labor  on  an  equality  with  the  buyer  as 
regards  bargaining  strength.  The  individual  worker  lacks  any  re- 
serve that  will  enable  him  to  hold  out  for  a  fair  price  for  his  labor. 
By  associating  with  other  workers  and  forming  a  common  fund,  he 
can  place  a  "reserve  price"  on  his  labor,  because  his  union  will  main- 
tain him  while  he  refuses  to  work  at  less  than  the  STANDARD  RATE. 
The  individual  worker  sells  labor  retail,  while  the  employer  buys  it 
wholesale.  By  associating  with  the  other  workers  in  his  trade,  the 
seller  is  put  on  at  least  an  approximate  equality  with  the  buyer;  the 
employer  is  no  longer  dealing  with  an  isolated  worker,  constrained 

[504] 


by  necessity  to  take  any  terms  offered  him,  but  with  an  organized 
group  which  can  in  large  degree  sell  or  refrain  from  selling  its  joint 
services  on  the  merits  of  the  terms  offered  it.  The  individual 
worker,  as  a  rule,  lacks  experience  in  bargaining  and  is  ignorant  of 
general  conditions  in  the  labor  market.  By  associating  with  other 
workers,  he  is  able  to  secure  the  services  of  an  expert  negotiator, 
familiar  with  the  psychology  and  methods  of  bargaining,  whose 
purpose  it  is  to  make  the  best  possible  terms  for  the  group 
which  he  represents.  These  are  the  chief  economic  reasons  that 
make  for  the  group  association  of  workers  in  a  trade  union. 
(SEE  LOCAL;  LABOR  UNION;  DISTRICT  UNION;  GENERAL  LABOR 
UNIONS;  COMPOUND  CRAFT  UNION;  MATERIAL  TRADE  UNION; 
TOWN  UNION;  MIXED  UNION;  CLOSED  UNION;  DUAL  UNION; 
PLANT  UNION;  RUMP  UNION;  SEX  UNIONS;  TEACHERS'  UNIONS; 
MIDDLE-CLASS  UNIONS;  OUTSIDE  UNION;  REGULAR  UNION;  COM- 
PANY UNION;  CHRISTIAN  UNIONS;  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC  UNIONS; 
RED  UNION;  YELLOW  UNION;  BLACK  UNION;  SYNDICAT;  BROTHER- 
HOOD; SOCIETY;  UNIONIZATION.) 

Trade  Union  Act  of  1871.  A  British  Parliamentary  enact- 
ment which,  together  with  certain  amendments  and  modifications 
contained  in  the  Trade  Union  Act  of  1876,  for  the  first  time  clearly 
legalized  the  status  of  British  trade  unionism  by  providing  that  a 
trade  union  should  not  be  held  to  be  unlawful  merely  because  its  ob- 
jects are  in  "restraint  of  trade."  This  carried  with  it  the  legal  recog- 
nition of  agreements  made  by  trade  unions.  But  the  Act  also  con- 
tained a  descriptive  clause  which  (as  modified  by  the  Act  of  1876) 
defined  a  trade  union  as  an  association  existing  for  the  regulation  of 
the  relations  between  workmen  and  masters,  or  between  workmen  and 
workmen,  or  between  masters  and  masters,  or  the  imposing  of  re- 
strictive conditions  on  the  conduct  of  any  trade  or  business,  and  the 
provision  of  BENEFITS  to  members.  This  definition  made  no  allow- 
ance for  the  political  activities  which  later  became  so  important  a 
part  of  British  trade  unionism;  and  upon  this  fact  was  based  the 
obnoxious  OSBORNE  JUDGMENT  of  1909. 

Trade  Union  Act  of  1876.    See  TRADE  UNION  ACT  OF  1871. 

Trade  Union  Act  of  1913.  A  British  Parliamentary  enact- 
ment which  in  part  at  least  removed  the  serious  limitations  placed 
upon  organized  British  labor  by  the  OSBORNE  JUDGMENT.  Under  this 
statute,  a  trade  union  is  authorized  to  include  in  its  objects,  on  cer- 
tain defined  conditions,  the  expenditure  of  money  on  candidatures 

[505] 


for  Parliament  or  any  public  office,  and  on  the  distribution  of  liter- 
ature, the  holding  of  meetings,  electoral  registration  work,  and  the 
maintenance  of  elected  representatives.  The  conditions  are:  (i) 
That  a  ballot  of  the  union  must  first  have  been  taken,  and  a  majority 
of  those  voting  have  declared  in  favor  of  such  political  action;  (2) 
that  the  political  fund  must  be  kept  separate,  and  no  member 
obliged  to  contribute  to  it  if  he  gives  notice  that  he  objects;  and 
(3)  that  contribution  to  this  political  fund  must  not  be  made  a  condi- 
tion of  admission  to  the  union,  nor  must  any  member  who  refuses  to 
contribute  be  penalized  on  that  account  by  being  excluded  from  any 
benefits  or  put  under  any  disability  or  disadvantage  as  compared 
with  his  fellows.  (See  TRADE  UNION  ACT  OF  1871.) 

Trade  Union  (Amalgamation)  Act.  A  British  Parliamentary 
enactment  of  1917,  which  removed  in  part  some  of  the  legal  difficulties 
regarding  trade  union  AMALGAMATION  embodied  in  previous  Trade 
Union  Acts.  Until  this  measure  was  passed,  two  trade  unions  could 
not  amalgamate  unless  such  action  had  been  approved  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  all  the  members  of  each  union.  Under  the  act  of  1917, 
the  amalgamation  proposal  must  be  voted  on  by  at  least  fifty  per  cent 
of  the  membership  of  each  union,  and  must  be  approved  by  at  least 
a  twenty  per  cent  majority  of  those  voting. 

Trade  Union  College  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Organized  in 
May,  1919,  by  a  group  of  trade  unionists  and  others  interested  in 
WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION.  As  set  forth  in  its  constitution,  "the 
object  of  the  college  shall  be  to  provide  educational  opportunities  for 
those  who  work  for  a  livelihood,  by  establishing  lecture  and  study 
courses  or  by  such  other  methods  as  may  seem  practicable.  Active 
membership  shall  be  confined  to  local  unions  which  are,  either  directly 
or  through  a  national  or  international  union,  affiliated  with  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR."  A  varied  list  of  courses  was 
given  during  the  first  year,  including  English  composition  and  liter- 
ature, political  science,  law,  and  industrial  subjects. 

Trade  Union  Cooperation.  While  COOPERATION  is  commonly 
considered  as  one  phase  of  the  labor  movement,  having  been  initi- 
ated and  mainly  developed  by  the  working  classes,  its  direct  associa- 
tion  with  trade  unionism  has  until  recently  been  largely  of  a  desultory 
and  sporadic  nature  in  the  United  States.  As  far  as  definite  organiza- 
tion on  any  considerable  scale  is  concerned,  the  first  stages  of  trade 
Union  cooperation  may  be  associated  with  the  SOVEREIGNS  OF  IN- 
DUSTRY (1874-1879),  which  established  several  stores  under  the 

[506] 


ROCHDALE  PLAN.  The  KNIGHTS  OF  LABOR  and  other  organizations 
carried  on  experiments  in  PRODUCERS'  COOPERATION;  but  except  as 
a  temporary  expedient  in  time  of  strikes  they  met  with  little  success. 
During  the  past  ten  years,  however,  there  has  been  a  marked  develop- 
ment of  trade  union  cooperation,  particularly  on  the  producing  side ; 
and  it  promises  to  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  future  of  trade 
unionism.  Several  unions  now  own  and  operate  large  cooperative 
factories,  principally  for  supplying  articles  of  wearing  apparel  to 
members  of  the  unions.  In  Seattle,  the  federated  trade  unions  own 
and  operate  a  general  store,  a  slaughter-house  and  meat-packing 
establishment,  a  market,  a  bank,  a  laundry,  a  printing  shop,  a  res- 
taurant, a  milk  condensary,  several  shingle  mills,  a  fish  cannery,  a 
jewelry  factory,  and  a  number  of  recreation  centres.  The  Brother- 
hood of  Locomotive  Engineers  recently  opened  in  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
a  cooperative  national  bank,  capitalized  at  one  million  dollars. 
In  several  European  countries  the  cooperative  movement  is  either 
wholly  or  largely  identified  with  the  organized  labor  movement. 

Trade  Union  Government — Local.  While  variations  of  de- 
tail are  found  in  different  organizations,  the  government  of  local 
labor  bodies  in  the  United  States  conforms  in  main  outline  with  the 
following  summary,  taken  from  Glocker's  "Government  of  American 
Trade  Unions":  "The  government  of  a  local  union  is  essentially 
government  by  mass-meeting.  The  whole  body  of  members,  assem- 
bling each  month,  each  fortnight,  or  oftener,  is  the  final  authority 
for  the  transaction  of  all  business, — legislative,  executive,  and  judi- 
cial. The  general  meeting  may  adopt  amendments  to  the  BY-LAWS, 
may  suspend  or  expel  a  member,  may  order  the  purchase  of  an  account 
book,  or  may  declare  a  strike.  .  .  .  The  general  meeting  has  been 
very  reluctant  to  delegate  any  of  its  powers;  but  of  necessity  various 
boards  and  committees  have  gradually  been  created.  Many  of 
these  committees  are  appointed  for  a  particular  purpose,  and  are 
discharged  when  that  purpose  has  been  attained.  Nevertheless, 
certain  standing  committees  have  also  emerged,  the  most  important 
of  which  is  the  executive  committee.  This  board  exercises  a  wide 
though  varying  number  of  specially  delegated  powers,  but  any  of 
its  decisions  may  be  overruled  by  the  general  meeting.  .  .  .  Another 
important  committee  of  the  local  union  is  the  judiciary  or  grievance 
committee,  which  considers  charges.  Sometimes  a  special  committee 
is  created  when  a  member  is  brought;  to  trial.  Occasionally  the 
executive  board  is  vested  with  this  judicial  authority,  but  more  fre- 
quently a  special  standing  committee  exists  for  this  purpose.  Another 

[507] 


standing  committee  is  the  membership  committee;  another  is  the 
finance  committee,  one  of  whose  most  important  duties  is  to  audit 
the  accounts  of  the  officers  having  charge  of  the  funds.  The  officers 
of  the  local  union  are  commonly  a  president,  who  is  chairman  at 
meetings  of  the  society,  a  vice-president,  a  recording  secretary,  a 
treasurer,  a  corresponding  secretary,  and  frequently  also  a  financial 
secretary  who  keeps  account  of  receipts  and  expenditures.  Some- 
times the  recording  secretary  acts  as  corresponding  or  as  financial 
secretary;  sometimes  the  offices  of  corresponding  secretary  and 
financial  secretary  are  combined.  Usually  the  local  officers  are  un- 
paid, or  are  paid  a  nominal  sum.  They  work  at  their  trade,  and 
perform  their  official  duties  during  spare  time.  The  duties  of  the 
local  and  financial  secretary  are  exceptionally  onerous  in  unions 
which,  like  the  Cigar  Makers,  maintain  a  variety  of  BENEFITS,  and 
many  of  the  larger  local  unions  in  such  trades  pay  him  a  salary. 
The  paid  financial  secretary  devotes  his  entire  time  to  the  union, 
and  receives  usually  the  rate  of  wages  prevailing  in  the  trade.  Not 
only  does  he  keep  the  financial  accounts,  but  he  also  performs  in 
many  instances  the  work  of  corresponding  secretary,  recording 
secretary,  and  treasurer.  The  other  paid  official  in  the  local  union 
is  the  WALKING  DELEGATE  or,  as  the  trade  unionists  prefer  to  call 
him,  the  BUSINESS  AGENT.  The  business  agent  adjusts  disputes 
between  employers  and  their  workmen,  and  thus  replaces  the  com- 
mittees of  the  shops  and  local  union  which  would  otherwise  perform 
this  service."  (See  ADMITTANCE  TO  THE  TRADE  UNION;  FINANCES 
OF  TRADE  UNIONS;  DISCIPLINE;  STRIKE  CONTROL;  STEWARD;  SHOP 
STEWARD;  AUTONOMY;  CENTRALIZATION.) 

Trade  Union  Government — National.    There  are  four  main 
factors  in  the  governmental  machinery  of  an  American  NATIONAL 

OR  INTERNATIONAL  UNION — the  NATIONAL  CONVENTION,  the  NATIONAL 
OFFICERS,  the  GENERAL  EXECUTIVE  BOARD,  and  the  INITIATIVE  AND 

REFERENDUM.  The  comparative  importance  of  these  four  factors 
varies  considerably  in  different  unions,  but  the  general  tendency  has 
been  toward  a  gradual  shifting  of  chief  authority  from  the  first- 
named  factor  in  the  group  to  the  last-named.  This  shifting  process, 
as  described  in  Glocker's  "Government  of  American  Trade  Unions," 
"may  be  marked  off  into  three  very  roughly  defined  stages.  During 
the  first  of  these,  the  representative  assembly  has  been  the  chief,  in 
fact,  almost  the  sole  organ  of  government.  .  .  .  The  amount  of  execu- 
tive work  is  very  limited,  and  the  few  unpaid  officials  are  elected  from 
among  the  delegates  at  the  convention  primarily  for  the  performance 

[508] 


of  certain  services  at  its  sessions,  and  they  have  few  or  no  other  duties. 
The  second  stage  appears  with  the  growth  of  the  activities  of  the 
central  organization,  and  is  marked  by  the  creation  of  certain  paid 
and  unpaid  officials  and  boards  of  management  which  levy  assess- 
ments, sanction  the  declaration  of  strikes,  perform  innumerable  de- 
tailed executive  duties,  make  judicial  decisions,  and  sometimes  exer- 
cise a  limited  legislative  power  during  the  period  between  conven- 
tions. The  representative  assembly  remains,  however,  the  highest 
authority  in  the  organization.  ...  At  the  same  time,  the  influence  of 
the  paid  officers  over  the  convention  grows  rapidly.  Giving  their 
entire  time  to  the  work  of  the  union,  these  officials  gain  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  of  the  trade  and  the  internal  affairs  of 
the  association,  and  the  delegates  must  rely  greatly  on  their  judg- 
ment. ...  In  the  third  stage,  government  by  popular  vote  is  substi- 
tuted for  government  by  the  representatives.  .  .  .  Some  unions  have 
abolished  conventions,  or  convoke  them  at  infrequent  intervals. 
Another  group  continues  to  hold  conventions  regularly,  but  submits 
all  enactments  of  that  body  to  the  vote  of  the  members.  A  few  unions 
require  that  appeals  from  judicial  and  strike  decisions  of  the  officers 
be  made  no  longer  to  the  convention  but  to  the  general  membership. 
In  others  the  only  change  has  been  that  the  officers  are  now  elected 
by  vote  of  the  members,  and  not  as  formerly  by  convention.  In 
another  fairly  large  group  the  referendum  is  used  merely  to  adopt 
emergency  legislation  between  the  sessions  of  the  representative 
assembly,  and  since  the  representatives  are  at  liberty  to  revoke  or 
amend  such  emergency  legislation,  the  power  of  convention  is  in  no 
wise  limited.  Finally,  there  remains  a  considerable  number  of  unions 
which  refer  no  questions  of  any  kind  to  popular  vote,  and  in  these 
the  convention  continues  to  be  the  primary  organ  of  government." 
(See  DEPUTY  SYSTEM;  DISCIPLINE;  FINANCES  OF  TRADE  UNIONS; 
STRIKE  CONTROL;  AUTONOMY;  CENTRALIZATION.) 

Trade  Union  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL  FEDER- 
ATION OP  TRADE  UNIONS;  INTERNATIONAL  COUNCIL  OP  TRADE 
AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONS. 

Trade  Union  Organization  in  Russia.  The  structure  of  the 
All-Russia  Metal  Workers'  Union,  one  of  the  twenty-three  national 
trade  unions  or  "All-Russia  Professional  Alliances"  into  which 
practically  all  Russian  workers  "by  hand  or  brain"  are  organized, 
is  thus  outlined  by  the  secretary  of  its  Central  Committee:  "The 
Metal  Workers'  Union  at  the  present  moment  is  a  national  organiza- 
tion which  embraces  all  those  engaged  in  the  metal  and  metal  work- 

[509] 


ing  industry.  All  workers  engaged  in  obtaining  metal  from  the  mines 
and  working  this  metal  in  any  form,  from  smelting  to  the  making  of 
machines  and  metal  implements,  are  included  in  our  Union.  Besides 
this  it  includes  all  occupations  in  a  metallurgical  or  metal-working 
undertaking  irrespective  of  category  or  trade.  Thus,  our  members 
include  skilled  and  unskilled  workers,  the  office  staff,  technicians, 
and  enginers;  workers  engaged  on  different  crafts  in  the  metal  works, 
as  the  wood  mould  makers  for  instance,  are  all  included  in  our 
union.  This  principle  of  industrial  organization  was  accepted  by  the 
union  in  1917,  and  to  a  considerable  degree  constituted  our  strength 
in  the  revolutionary  class  struggle.  At  the  present  moment  it  is  an 
essential  condition  of  the  work  of  the  union  in  organizing  the  metal 
industry  on  socialist  foundations.  .  .  .  The  scheme  of  organization  of 
the  metal  workers'  union  is  based  on  the  following:  The  primary 
organization  is  the  factory  committee.  This  is  elected  every  six 
months  at  a  general  meeting  of  workers  and  employees  and  generally 
consists  of  from  5  to  1 1  members.  The  main  task  of  the  committee 
is  to  carry  out  all  the  trade  union  regulations  in  the  factory ;  it  deals 
with  the  protection  of  labor,  trade  union  agitation  and  propaganda, 
supplies  the  workers  with  necessities,  clothes  as  well  as  articles  of 
general  consumption,  and  maintains  the  fundamental  basis  of  trade 
union  and  industrial  discipline  among  the  members  of  the  union. 
The  Conference  of  Factory  Committees  of  a  given  industrial  area, 
usually  a  territorial  area  a  little  smaller  than  a  '  government '  (guber- 
nia\  is  the  higher  directing  organ  within  that  area.  This  conference 
elects  the  regional  committee  which  manages  these  regional  branches 
of  the  All-Russia  Union  of  Metal  Workers.  Usually  these  com- 
mittees are  in  the  industrial  centres  of  the  regions.  As  subsidiary 
machinery  the  regional  Committee  may  have  its  agents  in  the  various 
towns  embraced  by  it,  but  these  are  not  obligatory;  such  agents  are 
usually  elected  at  local  meetings  of  the  members  and  carry  out  the 
instructions  of  the  higher  organ.  The  Congress  of  the  union  is  held 
once  a  year;  the  representatives  at  this  conference  are  elected  at 
regional  conferences  on  the  basis  of  strict  proportion  of  one  delegate 
to  every  2,000  members.  The  Conference  elects  the  central  com- 
mittee of  the  union.  The  regulations  of  the  Congress  and,  in  the  in- 
tervals between  congresses,  the  regulations  of  the  Central  Com- 
mittee, are  obligatory  upon  all  the  organs  of  the  union  and  upon  all 
the  members.  The  union  also  allows  the  organization  of  sections  for 
those  categories  of  labor  the  working  conditions  of  which  are  to  some 
extent  peculiar,  or  to  those  who  have  comparatively  recently  entered 
into  the  organization.  These  sections  are  organized  in  the  form  of 


elected  subsidiary  organs  attached  to  the  general  trade  union,  but 
they  have  not  the  right  to  carry  out  any  independent  resolutions  with- 
out the  sanction  of  the  union,  nor  can  they  have  separate  funds.  .  .  . 
The  metal  workers'  union  is  in  this  manner  one  complete  organiza- 
tion, strongly  welded  by  the  common  interests  of  the  metal  working 
industry."  (See  TRADE  UNIONS  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Trade  Union  Survey.     See  LABOR  RESEARCH  DEPARTMENT. 

Trade  Unions  in  Russia.  Before  the  revolution  of  1917 
trade  unions  were  under  the  Czarist  ban,  and  in  February,  1917, 
there  were  said  to  be  only  three  trade  unions  in  Russia,  with  a  com- 
bined membership  of  1,385.  With  the  installation  of  a  working-class 
government  under  the  Bolsheviki,  trade  unions  immediately  sprang 
into  being  as  one  of  the  most  vital  national  factors.  Under  the  Soviet 
labor  code  every  Russian  wage  earner  must  become  a  member  of  a 
trade  union,  whereupon  he  is  assigned  by  the  "valuation  committee" 
of  his  union  to  a  certain  trade  and  class.  The  trade  unions  embrace 
all  persons,  without  exception,  who  are  engaged  in  "socially  valua- 
ble" work  of  whatever  sort.  Organization  is  along  the  broadest  lines 
of  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM.  All  workers  of  a  given  industry — skilled 
and  unskilled,  men  and  women,  manual  workers,  clerks,  technical 
engineers,  etc. — are  grouped  in  a  single  trade  union  of  national  scope. 
There  are  now  twenty- three  of  these  national  organizations,  or  "pro- 
fessional alliances,"  embracing  practically  the  entire  working-force 
of  Russia,  "manual "  and  "mental "  workers  alike.  The  nucleus  of  a 
national  or  "All-Russia"  professional  alliance  is  the  factory  com- 
mittee; all  factory  committees  of  a  given  district  unite  to  form  a 
branch  of  the  national  body;  all  branches  in  a  given  province  unite 
to  form  a  provincial  department;  and  these  factory  committees, 
branches,  and  departments  make  up  the  national  trade  union.  The 
national  unions  are  federated  in  an  ALL-RUSSIAN  COUNCIL  OF  PRO- 
FESSIONAL ALLIANCES.  In  order  to  understand  the  Russian  trade 
union  movement  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  (i)  there  are  no 
CRAFT  UNIONS  or  craft  guilds  and  no  YELLOW  UNIONS  in  Russia;  and 
(2)  there  are  no  trade  unions  outside  of  those  federated  in  the  All- 
Russian  Council  of  Professional  Alliances.  The  trade  unions  of  Russia, 
unlike  those  of  any  other  country,  exercise  an  important  political 
function,  in  that  they  are  an  essential  part  of  the  Soviet  govern- 
mental machinery.  Their  economic  functions  are  also  of  wider  scope 
and  greater  importance  than  those  of  any  other  country.  They  par- 
ticipate directly  in  the  management  of  factories  and  industry,  and 
play  a  leading  part  in  the  fixing  of  wage  scales,  the  regulation  of 

IS"! 


SANITATION    AND    SAFETY,    the    Control    of    SOCIAL    INSURANCE    and 

WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION,  etc.  Born  of  the  revolution,  they  have 
been  and  still  remain  the  heart  of  the  revolutionary  movement  and 
the  foundation  upon  which  the  whole  structure  of  the  Russian  Re- 
public is  reared.  (See  TRADE  UNION  ORGANIZATION  IN  RUSSIA; 
WORKERS'  CONTROL  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Trade  Unionism.  The  continuous  movement  or  effort  on  the 
part  of  wage-earners  to  maintain  and  improve  the  conditions  of  their 
working  lives  through  group  organization  and  association.  Trade 
unionism  is  no  more  than  a  single  manifestation  of  a  universal  social 
tendency — "the  tendency  of  men  of  similar  temperament  and  similar 
environment  and  interest  to  get  together  for  common  action."  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Webb,  in  their  standard  work  on  "Industrial  Democracy," 
distinguish  three  principal  "instruments  or  levers"  by  which  trade 
unionism  seeks  to  attain  its  ends;  these  they  call  the  method  of 
MUTUAL  INSURANCE,  the  method  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  and 
the  method  of  LEGAL  ENACTMENT.  The  actual  regulations  which 
trade  unionism  endeavors  to  enforce  through  these  "methods"  are 
divided  by  the  same  authors  under  seven  main  heads,  as  follows: 

The  STANDARD  RATE,  the  NORMAL  DAY,  SANITATION  AND  SAFETY, 
INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  PROCESSES,  CONTINUITY  OF  EMPLOYMENT,  the 
ENTRANCE  INTO  A  TRADE,  and  the  RIGHT  TO  A  TRADE.  All  these  TCgU- 

lations  they  conceive  to  be  embodied  in  two  main  "expedients"  of 
trade  unionism — "the  device  of  the  COMMON  RULE"  and  "the  device 
of  RESTRICTION  OF  NUMBERS."  The  Webb  terminology,  as  indicated 
above,  has  been  adopted  by  nearly  all  later  writers.  In  every  coun- 
try present-day  trade  unionism  divides  into  two  main  camps  or  cur- 
rents. One,  comprising  the  conservative  forces,  accepts  the  existing 
economic,  political,  and  social  order,  and  merely  seeks  the  gradual 
improvement  of  working-class  conditions  within  that  order  by  means 
of  POLITICAL  ACTION,  cooperation  with  employers,  etc.  The  other 
main  division  refuses  to  accept  present  arrangements  as  either  just 
or  desirable,  and  seeks  a  revolutionary  reconstruction  of  society  along 
new  lines  designed  to  give  the  worker  full  control  over  the  conditions 
of  his  working  life  and  the  full  product  of  his  individual  labors.  The 
recent  growth  and  extent  of  trade  unionism  may  best  be  judged  from 
a  statistical  study  lately  made  by  the  INTERNATIONAL  LABOR  OFFICE 
of  the  League  of  Nations  ("The  Growth  of  Trade  Unionism  during 
the  Ten  Years,  1910-1919").  This  study  covered  all  important 
countries  of  the  world  with  the  exception  of  Russia,  for  which  no 
figures  are  available,  and  China,  Japan,  and  India,  where  trade 

IS"] 


unionism  has  as  yet  made  little  development.  According  to  this 
study,  the  total  number  of  trade  unionists  at  the  close  of  1919  in  the 
twenty  leading  countries  covered  by  the  study  was  32,680,000;  as 
compared  with  10,835,000  at  the  end  of  1910,  and  14,728,000  at  the 
end  of  1913.  From  these  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  trade  union  mem- 
bership in  the  twenty  countries  at  the  end  of  1919  was  three  times  as 
large  as  that  at  the  end  of  1910,  and  more  than  twice  as  large  as  that 
at  the  end  of  1913,  just  before  the  war.  A  small  part  of  the  increase 
is  due  to  the  greater  completeness  of  the  returns,  and  another  small 
part  (probably  about  ten  per  cent)  to  the  natural  growth  of  popu- 
lation; but  even  allowing  for  these  two  factors,  there  has  been  an 
enormous  growth  in  trade  unionism  among  the  workers.  The  growth 
is  common  to  all  countries.  During  the  war  unionism  received  a 
check,  especially  in  the  belligerent  countries.  The  decline  was 
especially  great  in  Germany,  Austria,  Hungary,  Italy,  and  Czecho- 
slovakia ;  but  in  all  these  countries  trade  union  membership  began  to 
increase  in  1917.  The  end  of  the  year  1919  saw  a  phenomenal  in- 
crease, especially  in  the  central  European  States.  For  European 
countries  only,  the  membership  at  the  end  of  1919  may  be  put  at 
26,000,000  at  least,  as  compared  with  about  8,500,000  at  the  end  of 
1910.  Of  the  total  membership  of  32,680,000  shown  above,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  for  five  of  the  twenty  countries  included, 
namely,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  the  United  States,  France,  and 
Italy,  the  total  trade  union  membership  in  1919  amounted  to  nearly 
27,000,000,  leaving  about  5,500,000  for  the  remaining  fifteen  coun- 
tries. (For  accounts  of  the  chief  forms  of  trade  unionism,  see  BUSI- 
NESS UNIONISM;  REVOLUTIONARY  UNIONISM;  CRAFT  UNIONISM; 
INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM;  DEPENDENT  UNIONISM;  EMPLOYMENTAL 
UNIONISM;  UPLIFT  UNIONISM;  PREDATORY  UNIONISM;  CLASS 
UNIONISM;  MASS  UNIONISM;  MARXIAN  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM; 
PURE  AND  SIMPLE  UNIONISM ;  NEW  UNIONISM;  OLD  UNIONISM;  NEW 
MODEL  OF  TRADE  UNIONISM;  DUAL  UNIONISM.  See  also  INTERNA- 
TIONAL TRADE  UNIONISM.) 

Trades  Council — American.  While  any  delegate  body  repre- 
sentative of  several  trade  unions  in  a  single  locality  or  district  is 
sometimes  called  a  "trades  council,"  this  term  is  more  commonly 
used  in  designation  of  one  of  the  two  main  varieties  of  such  bodies — 
that  which  is  representative  of  several  trade  unions  in  related  or 
allied  trades,  more  properly  known  as  an  "allied  trades  council." 
In  the  building,  printing,  and  metal  trades  are  to  be  found  the  most 
conspicuous  types  of  trades  councils  in  \h\§  sense.  Such  bodies  have 


a  plain  economic  basis,  in  that  they  represent  men  who  work  for  the 
same  employers  or  for  employers  who  cooperate  in  the  same  industry. 
Their  technical  and  industrial  relations  give  them  strength  in  united 
action.  The  SYMPATHETIC  STRIKE,  as  it  develops  under  their  influ- 
ence, is  a  formidable  weapon.  The  building  industry  seems  to  offer 
the  best  field  for  them,  and  it  is  chiefly  there  that  they  have  gained 
importance  and  have  effected  a  marked  improvement  in  the  workman's 
condition.  Trades  councils  often  have  power  to  determine  local 
JURISDICTION  and  discipline  local  unions  for  violations ;  to  act  for  the 
locals  in  making  local  agreements  with  employers;  to  act  together  in 
disciplining  employers  by  strike  or  otherwise;  and  to  assist  employers 
in  securing  and  maintaining  monopoly  of  the  field.  (See  BUILDING 
TRADES  COUNCILS;  METAL  TRADES  COUNCILS;  ALLIED  PRINTING 
TRADES  COUNCILS.) 

Trades  Council — British.  A  delegate  body  representative 
of  several  trade  unions  in  a  town  or  district,  the  principle  of  com- 
bination being  locality,  not  occupation.  There  are  now  about  five 
hundred  such  trades  councils  in  Great  Britain,  with  an  aggregate 
affiliated  membership  of  several  millions  of  trade  unionists.  Since 
1895  they  have  been  excluded  from  representation  in  the  TRADES 
UNION  CONGRESS,  but  they  are  admitted  as  constituent  units  of  the 
BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY.  Their  functions  are  thus  described  in  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Webb's  "History  of  Trade  Unionism":  "Apart  from  their 
constant  activity  in  municipal  politics,  and  their  energetic  support 
of  the  Labor  Party  in  all  elections,  the  Trades  Councils  have,  in  the 
present  century,  considerably  increased  in  usefulness.  They  have 
given  valuable  assistance  in  Trade  Union  propaganda,  alike  within 
their  own  districts  and  in  the  adjacent  rural  districts.  No  small  part 
of  the  increase  in  Trade  Union  membership,  notably  among  nonde- 
script workers  in  the  towns,  and  the  agricultural  laborers  in  the 
country,  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  constant  work  and  support  of  some 
of  the  more  active  among  them.  They  have  done  much  to  appease 
quarrels  among  the  local  branches  of  different  Unions,  and  they  are 
occasionally  able  to  intervene  successfully  as  arbitrators.  Even 
without  formal  ARBITRATION  they  bring  warring  parties  together. 
They  nominate  working-class  representatives  to  many  local  com- 
mittees and  conferences,  and  serve  in  this  way  as  useful  links  with 
public  administration.  Some  of  them  have,  of  recent  years,  done  a 
great  deal  to  promote  the  better  education  of  the  artisan  class." 
Both  in  organization  and  in  functions,  the  British  trades  councils 
bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  American  CITY  CENTRALS.  (See 
LOCAL  LABOR  PARTIES;  LABOR  REPRESENTATION  COMMITTEES.) 

[514] 


Trades  Union.  Ordinarily  the  terms  "trades  union"  and 
"trade  union"  are  now  used  in  a  synonymous  sense.  Some  writers, 
however,  still  maintain  a  former  distinction,  and  apply  the  term 
"trades  union"  specifically  to  a  federation  of  trade  unions  in  various 
crafts  or  industries — as  typified,  for  example,  by  a  CITY  CENTRAL 

Or  a  STATE  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR. 

Trades  Union  Congress.  The  great  national  federation  or 
parliament  of  organized  British  labor,  holding  annual  meetings  of 
delegates  from  all  the  important  trade  unions  of  the  country,  together 
with  special  meetings  called  from  time  to  time.  The  Congress 
originated  in  1868.  Any  bonafide  union  is  entitled  to  be  represented 
by  delegates  and  to  vote  in  accordance  with  its  numerical  strength. 
Membership  is  not  compulsory,  and  a  few  important  national  unions 
are  still  unaffiliated.  TRADES  COUNCILS  have  been  excluded  since 
1895.  At  the  meetings  of  the  Congress,  each  constituent  union  is 
represented  by  one  delegate  for  every  5000  members  or  fraction 
thereof.  Voting  on  important  questions  is  on  the  principle  of  one 
vote  for  every  1000  members  represented;  and  the  decisions  arrived 
at  must  be  ratified  by  the  separate  constituent  bodies  represented  in 
the  Congress,  before  they  have  binding  effect.  The  value  of  the  Con- 
gress lies  first  in  the  opportunity  afforded  for  debate,  for  exchange  of 
opinion,  and  for  social  intercourse,  and  secondly,  in  the  appointment 
and  instruction  of  its  executive,  the  Parliamentary  Committee. 
This  body,  consisting  of  sixteen  members,  with  a  paid  secretary, 
elected  annually  by  the  whole  assembly,  is  charged  with  the  duties 
of  watching  all  legislation  directly  affecting  labor,  initiating  such 
legislative  action  as  the  Congress  may  direct,  and  preparing  the 
programme  of  the  Congress.  It  also  transacts  all  the  necessary 
business  between  the  Congresses,  and  is  thus  a  supreme  executive 
council  of  the  British  trade  union  movement.  In  addition,  a  Joint 
Board  consisting  of  representatives  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee, 
the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY,  and  the  GENERAL  FEDERATION  OF  TRADE 
UNIONS  meets  occasionally  for  the  discussion  and  formulation  of 
common  policies.  Six  and  a  half  million  workers  "by  hand  or  brain " 
were  represented  in  the  September,  1920,  meeting  of  the  Trades 
Union  Congress.  One  of  the  most  important  actions  taken  at  this 
meeting  was  the  approval  of  the  scheme  for  a  General  Council  to 
replace  the  Parliamentary  Committee.  This  plan  provides  for  a 
central  coordinating  body  representing  the  whole  trade  union  move- 
ment, to  consist  of  thirty  members,  elected  from  seventeen  trade 
union  groups  arranged  by  industries  and  represented  on  the  Council 


according  to  their  numerical  strength.  Two  representatives  of  wom- 
en's trade  unions  will  be  included.  The  General  Council  will  be  in 
turn  divided  into  five  sub-committees,  grouped  according  to  indus- 
tries; and  each  sub-committee,  with  a  specialized  salaried  officer, 
will  ultimately  form  a  department  of  information,  coordination, 
etc.,  for  the  particular  group  of  trade  unions  and  industries  which  it 
represents.  The  main  general  objects  of  the  Council  are  stated  to 
be  "to  keep  watch  over  all  industrial  movements  and  where  possible 
correlate  industrial  action;  to  promote  common  action  on  any  gen- 
eral questions  that  might  arise  and  assist  any  union  attacked  on  any 
vital  question  of  trade-union  principle;  to  use  its  influence  to  promote 
settlement  of  disputes  between  trade-unions;  assist  trade-union  or- 
ganizations; carry  on  propaganda,  and  enter  into  relations  with 
trade-union  and  labor  movements  in  other  countries." 

Tramp  Benefits.    See  TRAVELLING  BENEFITS. 
Tramp  Card.    See  TRAVELLING  CARD. 

Tramp  Industries.  Those  in  which  CASUAL  LABOR  or  MIGRATORY 
LABOR  is  largely  employed.  Lumbering  is  a  typical  tramp  industry, 
particularly  in  the  West. 

Transfer  Card.  When  a  member  in  good  standing  of  any  local 
branch  of  a  national  or  international  trade  union  moves  to  another 
town  in  which  there  is  also  a  LOCAL  of  the  same  national  or  inter- 
national organization,  he  is  generally  given  a  "transfer  card"  which 
entitles  him  to  membership  in  the  local  of  his  new  town  without 
payment  of  the  usual  INITIATION  FEE.  This  card  is  sometimes  called 
a  "clear  card,"  the  implication  being  that  the  member  is  "clear" 
of  debts  to  the  local  issuing  the  card.  "Clearance  card"  is  another 
variant.  In  1906  the  International  Miners'  Federation  adopted  a 
uniform  transfer  card  which  is  recognized  by  miners'  unions  through- 
out the  world.  (See  COMBINATION  CARD;  CARD  SYSTEM.) 

Transport  Workers.  In  England,  a  common  designation  for 
all  classes  of  workers  engaged  in  the  transport  industry,  other  than 
railway  workers.  It  includes  sailors,  marine  engineers  and  firemen, 
DOCKERS  and  other  WATERSIDE  WORKERS,  carters  and  motor  truck 
drivers,  etc.  The  chief  unions  of  these  workers  are  federated  in  the 
National  Transport  Workers'  Federation — a  member  of  the  famous 
TRIPLE  ALLIANCE. 

Travelling  Benefits.  Payments  or  loans  made  generally  by 
a  trade  union,  but  in  some  European  countries  by  the  government, 
to  enable  an  unemployed  laborer  to  travel  to  another  place  where 

[Si6] 


employment  is  promised  or  probable.  Travelling  benefits  are  usually 
provided  in  any  comprehensive  scheme  of  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSUR- 
ANCE. Some  British  unions  also  make  what  are  known  as  "emigra- 
tion allowances"  or  ''emigration  benefits" — grants  to  members  who 
are  going  abroad  to  better  their  economic  status.  Travelling  benefits 
were  often  formerly,  and  occasionally  are  still,  referred  to  as  "tramp 
benefits."  (See  TRAVELLING  CARD.) 

Travelling  Book.    See  TRAVELLING  CARD. 

Travelling  Card,  (i)  In  America,  a  card  issued  to  trade 
unionists  whose  work  takes  them  to  various  parts  of  the  country,  or 
who  are  travelling  in  search  of  employment,  on  account  of  death  or 
sickness,  or  for  the  transaction  of  trade  union  business.  This  card 
indicates  that  the  bearer  is  a  member  in  good  standing  of  some  local 
branch  of  his  national  organization,  and  entitles  him  to  temporary 
membership  in  LOCALS  of  the  same  national  union  in  other  towns, 
without  payment  of  the  usual  INITIATION  FEE.  (2)  In  England,  a 
card  or  small  book  of  receipt  forms  issued  to  a  trade  union  member 
who  must  leave  his  own  town  in  search  of  work.  It  entitles  him  for  a 
limited  period  to  lodging  and  a  meal  in  those  towns  where  his  na- 
tional union  maintains  local  branches  such  towns  being  sometimes 
known  as  "relief  towns"  on  this  account.  "Tramp  card"  and 
"blank"  are  alternate  names  for  the  English  "travelling  card." 
(See  COMBINATION  CARD;  CARD  SYSTEM.) 

Travelling  Witnesses.  In  I.  W.  W.  circles,  this  term  is  used 
in  designation  of  certain  ex-members  of  the  I.  W.  W.  organization 
who  travel  about  at  public  expense  from  one  locality  to  another, 
wherever  prosecutions  of  I.  W.  W.  members  are  in  progress,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  testimony  (usually  of  a  luridly  sensational  charac- 
ter) against  the  organization. 

Trespass.     See  OVERLAP. 

Trial  Board  or  Trial  Committee.     See  DISCIPLINE. 

Trick.    See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Tripartite  Control.  Denotes  the  representation  of  workers, 
capitalists,  and  consumers  in  the  management  of  industry.  The  con- 
sumers' interests,  also  known  as  the  public  interest,  first  achieved 
recognition  in  WAGE  BOARDS  for  the  arbitration  of  industrial  disputes 
or  the  establishment  of  living  standards,  and  the  public  thus  came  to 
be  recognized  as  a  legitimate  third  party.  Tripartite  control  extends 
34  (Si?! 


this  principle  to  the  sphere  of  industrial  management.    (See  UNITARY 
CONTROL;  PLUMB  PLAN.) 

Triple  Alliance.  This,  the  first  great  inter-industrial  feder- 
ation in  the  British  labor  movement,  was  formed  in  1913,  and  is  made 
up  of  the  Miners'  Federation  of  Great  Britain,  the  National  Union  of 
Railwaymen,  and  the  National  Transport  Workers'  Federation.  It 
represents  a  combined  membership  of  more  than  a  million  and  a 
half,  or  perhaps  one-sixth  of  the  entire  adult  male  labor  of  the  nation. 
The  object  of  this  great  organization  is  to  secure  joint  action  and  a 
common  policy  in  connection  with  any  industrial  dispute  of  national 
extent.  The  three  industries  concerned  are  of  course  closely  inter- 
related, and  a  strike  in  any  one  of  them  is  bound  seriously  to  affect 
the  other  two.  But  while  its  tremendous  potential  strength  has  often 
counted  to  good  purpose  in  negotiations  with  employers  and  the 
government,  the  Triple  Alliance  has  never  yet  been  put  to  a  direct 
and  practical  test.  "To  some  extent,"  wrote  G.  D.  H.  Cole  in  1918, 
"the  very  power  of  the  machine  presents  an  obstacle  to  its  use,  and 
its  makers  are  fearful  of  the  Frankenstein  that  they  have  made." 
This  was  the  precise  case  in  the  great  British  coal  strike  of  1921. 
After  fixing  a  definite  date  for  "coming  out"  in  the  miners'  behalf, 
the  railwaymen  and  transport  workers,  seemingly  overawed  by  the 
possible  results  of  their  action,  made  an  eleventh  hour  reversal  of 
their  decision,  and  the  Triple  Alliance  once  more  failed  to  fulfill  its 
purpose.  But  while  these  events  have  seriously  shaken  the  organiza- 
tion, there  has  as  yet  been  no  formal  dissolution.  In  America,  the 
term  "triple  alliance"  has  been  applied  at  different  times  to  several 
loose  and  shifting  combinations  of  trade  unions,  farmers'  organiza- 
tions, and  RAILWAY  BROTHERHOODS.  (See  TRANSPORT  WORKERS; 
ALL  GRADES  MOVEMENT.) 

Truck  Acts.    See  TRUCK  SYSTEM. 

Truck  System.  The  payment  of  wages  in  goods  or  services 
rather  than  money.  This  system  goes  back  a  long  way  in  English 
industrial  history;  but  various  Parliamentary  Truck  Acts  (1831, 
1887,  1896)  have  now  largely  done  away  with  it  in  Great  Britain.  In 
the  .United  States,  the  truck  system  is  mainly  associated  with  the 
COMPANY  STORE  and  COMPANY  HOUSING.  Where  the  employer  owns 
the  store  from  which  his  employees  are  required  to  purchase  their 
food,  clothing,  and  supplies,  or  owns  the  houses  in  which  they  are 
required  to  reside,  wages  are  often  paid  in  cash  only  to  the  extent 
of  such  balances  as  may  remain  to  the  credit  of  the  employee 


after  deducting  his  charges  at  the  store  or  for  rent.  Even  when 
wages  are  paid  in  cash,  the  employees  are  sometimes  virtually  com- 
pelled to  deal  at  stores  or  to  live  in  houses  owned  or  controlled  by 
the  employer.  Various  state  laws  either  prohibit  the  truck  system 
altogether  or  else  restrict  it  in  ah  effort  to  prevent  coercion,  extortion, 
etc.  But  even  when  such  laws  are  not  declared  unconstitutional  (as 
they  often  have  been),  there  is  an  inherent  difficulty  in  enforcing  the 
penalties  of  the  law  upon  the  employer,  since  prosecution  must  usually 
be  instituted  by  the  employee  or  by  some  one  in  his  behalf.  In  either 
case  the  certainty  of  discharge  makes  him  anxious  to  avoid  the 
prosecution.  Consequently  almost  the  only  cases  where  the  law  is 
enforced  are  in  those  industries  where  a  strong  labor  organization 
has  taken  up  the  issue;  and  even  then  the  result  is  not  usually  ac- 
complished by  a  legal  prosecution  but  by  the  ordinary  direct  influence 
of  the  union.  In  England  the  word  "truck"  is  often  used  as  a  syno- 
nym for  the  truck  system.  Also  called  ' '  order  system ' '  and  ' '  payment 
in  kind."  (See  TOMMY;  SCRIPT;  LIVING-!N  SYSTEM.) 

Trust.  As  commonly  understood  in  the  United  States,  a 
trust  is  a  permanent  combination  of  capital  on  the  part  of  several 
business  enterprises,  in  number  sufficient  to  represent  a  majority  of 
those  producing  a  given  commodity  or  performing  a  given  service. 
The  principal  object  of  such  a  combination  is  manifestly  to  control 
the  production  and  price  of  its  product;  or  in  case  of  a  combination 
of  public  utility  companies,  to  dominate  the  territory  affected,  in 
the  matter  of  rates  and  service.  The  term  had  its  origin  in  the  form 
of  organization  adopted  in  1882,  to  combine  the  interests  of  competing 
producers  of  oil.  The  stockholders  of  all  the  CORPORATIONS  which 
were  parties  to  the  agreement  placed  all  their  shares  of  stock  in  the 
hands  of  trustees  and  received  in  exchange  trust  certificates.  These 
trustees  had  absolute  power  of  voting  the  stock  that  was  placed 
in  their  hands,  and  were  therefore  able  to  control  the  policy  of  each 
corporation  which  entered  into  the  agreement.  This  form  of  combi- 
nation was  known  as  a  "voting  trust " ;  but  because  of  legal  difficulties, 
it  soon  gave  way  to  the  "holding  company"  method,  under  which 
a  new  corporation  is  formed,  with  power  to  purchase  either  for  cash 
or  with  its  own  stock  the  stocks  of  the  several  companies  included 
in  the  trust,  the  relation  of  trustee  and  trust  thus  being  changed  to 
that  of  owner  and  property,  and  the  board  of  trustees  giving  way  to 
a  board  of  directors.  Practically  all  present-day  trusts  are  organized 
on  this  plan;  but  it  should  be  noted  that  not  all  so-called  "holding 
companies"  are  trusts,  some  being  formed  for  purely  financial  serv- 


ices.  In  relation  to  trade  unionism,  the  trust  presents  a  problem 
of  peculiar  difficulty.  "It  is  here,"  says  Dr.  Weyforth,  "that  the 
employee  labors  under  the  greatest  disadvantage  in  competition  with 
thousands  of  his  fellow  workers  under  the  process  of  INDIVIDUAL 
BARGAINING  with  the  employer,  who  possess  the  advantage  of  having 
a  restricted  field  of  competing  employers  bidding  for  the  same  labor 
that  he  desires.  It  seems  that  here  above  all  is  the  place  where  trade 
unionism  is  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING. 
In  just  this  field,  however,  are  to  be  found  the  most  glaring  examples 
of  its  complete  break-down.  The  fundamental  factor  in  this  situation 
is  the  superior  strategical  strength  of  the  employer  under  such  form 
of  business  organization.  This  superior  strategical  strength  is  due 
to  three  causes:  (i)  the  greater  financial  resources  of  the  trust  and 
the  difficulty  of  the  union  in  obtaining  a  substantial  foothold  in  the 
industry;  (2)  the  control  by  the  trust  over  a  number  of  plants;  (3) 
the  restriction  of  the  area  of  employment  for  the  men."  While  a  few 
national  unions  have  combated  the  trust  with  a  considerable  degree 
of  success,  trade  unionism  has  for  the  most  part  made  little  progress 
in  this  field.  As  a  consequence,  some  of  the  worst  labor  conditions 
of  today  are  to  be  found  in  certain  "trustified"  industries. 

Trusteeing  of  Wages.    See  GARNISHMENT  OF  WAGES. 

Turn  List  or  Turn  Bulletin.  A  trade  union  device  for 
ensuring  an  equal  division  of  work  among  union  members  during  a 
period  of  slack  production.  In  the  JOINT  INTERSTATE  AGREEMENTS 
IN  BITUMINOUS  COAL-MINING,  for  example,  it  is  usually  provided 
that  "the  OPERATOR  shall  see  that  an  equal  turn  is  offered  each 
miner  and  that  he  be  given  a  fair  chance  to  obtain  the  same.  The 
CHECKWEIGHMAN  shall  keep  a  turn  bulletin  for  the  turn  keeper's 
guidance."  (See  WORK  SHARING.) 

Turn  System.    See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

Turnout.  A  STRIKE  is  often  thus  designated  by  the  workers, 
particularly  in  England.  (See  WALKOUT;  DOWN  TOOLS.) 

Turnover.    See  LABOR  TURNOVER. 

Turnway  Societies.  These  organizations  of  Thames  watermen, 
the  purpose  of  which  is  to  regulate  the  "turns"  or  order  in  which  the 
men  plying  at  any  particular  "stairs"  serve  the  passengers  who  pre- 
sent themselves,  constitute  the  most  primitive  form  or  method  of 

WORK  SHARING. 

[520] 


Tutorial  Class  Movement.  The  method  of  adult  WORKING- 
CLASS  EDUCATION  in  England  and  other  parts  of  the  British  Empire, 
consisting  of  weekly  lesson  classes  under  the  direction  of  salaried 
tutors  for  three-year  courses  in  various  non-vocational  subjects,  is 
so  called.  This  work  is  mainly  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  the 
WORKERS'  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION;  it  is  financed  by  grants  from 
national  and  local  educational  authorities  and  from  the  universities, 
by  income  from  endowments,  and  by  nominal  fees  from  students. 

Twelve -Hour  Day.  A  continuous  working  day  of  twelve 
hours  was  at  one  time  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  in  industry. 
Through  the  pressure  of  working-class  organization  it  has  been  gradu- 
ally eliminated,  until  it  now  survives  mainly  in  those  industries  which 
have  successfully  resisted  UNIONIZATION — chiefly  in  the  American 
steel  industry,  where  not  only  the  twelve-hour  day  but  the  seven- 
day  week  has  long  been  common  for  large  numbers  of  workers. 
The  evil  effects,  both  individual  and  social,  of  the  twelve-hour  day 
have  been  set  forth  in  detail  in  the  special  report  on  the  "long  day" 
in  the  steel  industry,  made  for  the  Cabot  Fund  and  published  in  "The 
Survey"  of  March  5,  1921.  (See  LONG  TURN.) 

Twenty -One  Articles  of  Faith.  See  LENIN'S  TWENTY-ONE 
CONDITIONS. 

Twicer.  In  the  British  printing  trades,  a  compositor  who  is 
also  a  pressman  is  so  nicknamed.  The  term  is  also  applied  to  a  trade 
union  official  who  tries  to  fill  two  jobs  at  once — for  example,  as  the 
secretary  of  a  national  union  and  a  LABOR  MEMBER  of  Parliament. 

Two  and  a  Half  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL  WORK- 
ING UNION  OF  SOCIALIST  PARTIES. 

Two  Day -Shift  System.  That  form  of  the  SHIFT  SYSTEM 
under  which  industrial  work  is  carried  on  from  dawn  until  dark  by 
two  sets  or  shifts  of  workers.  Thus,  under  the  British  "Employment 
of  Women,  Young  Persons,  and  Children  Act,  1920,"  women  and 
YOUNG  PERSONS  may  be  legally  employed  in  factories  or  workshops 
at  any  time  between  six  A.M.  and  ten  P.M.  on  any  week-day  except 
Saturday,  and  on  Saturday  between  six  A.M.  and  two  P.M.,  in  shifts 
averaging  not  more  than  eight  hours  a  day  each — provided  govern- 
ment permission  has  been  granted  upon  joint  application  of  the 
employer  and  a  majority  of  the  workpeople  in  each  factory  or  work- 
shop. 

Two -Shift  System      See  SHIFT  SYSTEM. 

[521] 


Two -Machine  System.  In  many  industries  there  are  certain 
machine-tools  which  require  the  attendance  of  a  skilled  machinist, 
but  on  which  when  once  the  piece  of  metal  is  properly  set,  the  work 
proceeds  automatically  until  the  time  comes  for  setting  another 
piece.  It  is  thus  possible  for  one  skilled  workman  to  tend  more 
than  one  such  machine,  and  by  so  doing  he  can  of  course  greatly 
increase  his  output.  This  form  of  labor-saving  is  strongly  objected 
to  by  trade  unions,  on  the  ground  that  it  reduces  employment  and 
so  tends  to  lower  the  general  scale  of  wages  in  the  industry.  (See 
MACHINE  QUESTION;  LIMITATION  OF  OUTPUT.) 


u 


U.  G.  T.    See  UNION  GENERAL  DE  TRABAJADORES. 
U.  I.  L.    See  UNIONE  ITALIANA  DEL  LAVORO. 
U.  S.  I.    See  UNIONE  SYNDICALE  ITALIANA. 

Ulster  Unionist  Labor  Association.    See  IRISH  LABOR  PARTY 

AND  TRADES  UNION  CONGRESS. 

Ulster  Workers'  Union.  See  IRISH  LABOR  PARTY  AND  TRADES 
UNION  CONGRESS. 

Under -Consumption  Theory.  As  commonly  understood,  the 
theory  that  the  workers  lack  the  necessary  purchasing  power  to 
satisfy  their  legitimate  wants.  Until  such  wants  are  satisfied,  what 
is  called  general  OVER-PRODUCTION  is  simply  general  under-con- 
sumption.  Because  of  low  wages,  UNEMPLOYMENT,  etc.,  the  workers 
must  do  without  many  commodities  which  they  would  otherwise 
consume;  hence  over-production  and  industrial  shutdowns;  hence 
unemployment,  low  wages,  and  loss  of  profits.  Until  a  greater  con- 
suming power  is  given  to  the  masses,  it  is  held,  there  can  be  no  break 
in  the  vicious  circle.  '"The  working  people  simply  live  from  hand 
to  mouth  and  consume  what  they  get.  The  wealthy  classes,  with 
their  large  incomes,  do  not  in  fact  consume  all  that  comes  to  them. 
They  therefore  invest  a  large  part  of  their  incomes  in  productive 
enterprises.  They  add  to  the  productive  capacity  more  than  the 
market  will  stand.  In  the  end  more  goods  are  produced  than  there 
is  a  market  for,  and  collapse  necessarily  comes.  If  the  working  people, 
who  consume  all  they  get,  had  a  larger  purchasing  power,  the  con- 
suming power  of  society  as  a  whole  would  be  greater,  and  its  pro- 
ducing power  would  be  less ;  so  the  phenomenon  of  congestion  would 
not  appear." 

Under-Cover  Men.  Industrial  spies  are  commonly  so  desig- 
nated by  their  employers.  They  arc  private  detectives  (sometimes 
in  the  permanent  employ  of  large  industrial  corporations  or  EMPLOY- 
ERS' ASSOCIATIONS,  sometimes  hired  from  LABOR  DETECTIVE  AGENCIES) 

[523] 


who  pose  as  workingmen,  join  the  latter's  organizations,  and  attend 
their  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  securing  first-hand  information 
regarding  the  activities  of  groups  or  individuals  in  the  labor  move- 
ment. They  are  particularly  prominent  in  any  industry — as  for 
example,  steel-making — which  opposes  UNIONIZATION.  They  have 
been  largely  employed  by  the  government,  notably  during  the  past 
five  years,  in  dealing  with  so-called  "radical"  activities.  Their 
general  character  and  methods  are  described  in  detail  in  the  recent 
report  on  ESPIONAGE  IN  INDUSTRY  made  for  the  Cabot  Fund. 
"Given  an  employer  suddenly  face  to  face  with  the  probability  of 
labor  trouble  in  his  plant,  ignorant  of  the  character  and  point  of 
view  of  his  employees,  with  no  access  to  their  plans,  very  fearful  of 
their  organization — the  result  is  almost  inevitable  panic,  and  the 
labor  spy  exists  to  exploit  this  panic.  He  capitalizes  the  employer's 
ignorance  and  prejudice,  and  enters  the  plant  specifically  to  identify 
the  leaders  of  the  labor  organization,  to  propagandize  against  them 
and  BLACKLIST  them,  and  to  disrupt  and  corrupt  their  union.  He  is 
under  cover,  disguised  as  a  worker,  hired  to  betray  the  workers' 
cause."  It  is  a  common  practice  of  the  industrial  spy  to  secure  control 
of  or  to  disorganize  local  unions  by  bribing  their  officers.  "There 
seems  excellent  reason,"  says  the  Cabot  Report,  "to  believe  that 
this  kind  of  control  goes  high  in  the  ranks  of  union  labor  executives." 
Under-cover  men  are  known  among  themselves  and  their  employers 
under  a  variety  of  names,  such  as  "operatives,"  "representatives," 
"special  contract  operatives,"  "special  agents,"  "special  duty  men," 
"efficiency  men,"  "inside  men,"  "cover-up  men,"  etc.  Of  the 
printable  names  given  them  by  those  upon  whom  they  spy,  "stool 
pigeons,"  "stools,"  "gumshoes,"  and  "finks"  are  perhaps  the  com- 
monest. (See  AGENT  PROVOCATEUR.) 

Under -Employment.  Irregular,  uncertain,  or  less  than  FULL 
TIME  employment — either  of  an  individual  worker,  or  of  all  workers 
in  a  specific  trade  or  industry.  In  connection  with  CASUAL  LABOR, 
an  under-employed  worker  is  one  who  is  hired  often  enough  to  pre- 
vent him  from  drifting  away  elsewhere,  but  not  often  enough  to  give 
him  a  decent  living.  All  MIGRATORY  LABOR  represents  a  condition 
of  under-employment.  (See  RESERVE  OF  LABOR;  ON-AND-OFF 
SYSTEM.) 

Underhands.  All  workers  below  the  rank  or  grade  of  JOURNEY- 
MAN are  so  designated  in  some  trades. 

Undertaker.     See  ENTREPRENEUR. 

[524] 


Undermining.  This  term  is  sometimes  used  by  trade  unionists 
in  designation  of  any  action,  individual  or  collective,  on  the  part  of 
other  workers  which  tends  to  dispossess  unionists  of  their  jobs,  to 
reduce  wages,  or  otherwise  to  injure  their  interests.  The  term 
"encroachment"  is  sometimes  used  in  practically  the  same  sense. 
(See  DISCIPLINE.) 

Unemployables.  In  connection  with  the  general  problem  of 
UNEMPLOYMENT,  careful  distinction  must  be  made  between  those 
unemployed  persons  who  are  able  and  willing  to  work,  and  those  who 
for  various  reasons  are  classed  as  "unemployables."  These  latter, 
according  to  the  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUS- 
TRIAL RELATIONS,  "are  really  people  who  have  dropped  out  of  the 
ranks  of  industry,  broken  down  by  the  unsteadiness  of  employment 
or  other  causes.  Some  are  mentally  defective  or  physically  incapable 
or  both.  Others  are  'down-and-outs,'  who  have  lost  the  habit  of 
working.  Still  others  live  by  their  wits,  by  begging,  or  by  crime. 
During  the  most  prosperous  times,  when  labor  is  in  great  demand, 
these  same  people  do  not  work.  They  are  'unemployed'  in  the  same 
sense  that  young  children,  the  old,  and  the  sick,  and  those  who  live 
on  incomes  from  investments,  are  unemployed.  No  amount  of  work 
that  might  be  provided  by  public  or  private  enterprise  would  have 
any  appreciable  effect  on  these  unemployables.  They  need  hospital 
or  corrective  treatment.  In  prosperous  times  they  are  considered 
the  subjects  of  such  treatment,  but  in  every  period  of  industrial 
depression  they  stand  out  as  the  most  conspicuous  element  in  the 
'army  of  the  unemployed.'  The  failure  to  distinguish  these  unem- 
ployables from  those  who  are  temporarily  out  of  work  on  account  of 
a  slack  season  or  the  failure  of  a  firm,  and  those  casual  workers  who 
are  employed  for  part  of  every  week  or  month,  leads  to  hopeless  con- 
fusion." (See  SUBSIDIZED  WORKSHOPS;  LABOR  COLONIES;  CASUAL 
LABOR.) 

Unemployment.  In  the  most  obvious  sense,  absence  from 
work,  or  the  condition  of  being  out  of  work.  As  usually  considered, 
unemployment  is  an  involuntary  condition,  and  therefore  must  be 
carefully  differentiated  from  the  voluntary  absence  from  work  due 
to  vacations,  strikes,  etc.  A  large  percentage  of  unemployment  is  due 
to  sickness,  accidents,  old  age,  intemperance,  degeneracy,  etc.  In- 
voluntary unemployment  not  arising  from  physical  or  mental  dis- 
ability on  the  worker's  part  is  generally  attributed  to  such  immediate 
causes  as  (i)  SEASONAL  FLUCTUATIONS  and  weather  conditions, 
(2)  trade  depressions,  (3)  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery 

[525] 


and  improved  methods  of  manufacture  and  transportation,  (4)  im- 
perfect adjustments  in  the  LABOR  MARKET,  (5)  LOCKOUTS  or  SHUT- 
DOWNS on  the  part  of  employers.  In  addition,  the  continual  shifting 
and  displacement  of  individual  workers  involved  in  what  is  known 
as  LABOR  TURNOVER  accounts  for  a  large  percentage  of  the  total 
volume  of  unemployment  at  any  given  time.  "The  problem  of  un- 
employment," according  to  W.  H.  Beveridge,  an  English  authority 
on  the  subject,  "is  the  problem  of  the  adjustment  of  the  supply  of 
labor  and  the  demand  for  labor.  The  supply  of  labor  in  a  country 
is,  in  the  widest  sense,  the  supply  of  population.  It  is  at  any  moment, 
apart  from  the  possibilities  of  emigration  and  immigration,  a  fairly 
fixed  quantity.  Moreover,  it  is  fixed  for  each  moment,  not  by  any- 
thing then  happening,  but  by  the  habits  and  actions  of  millions  of 
disconnected  households  a  generation  back.  The  demand  for  labor, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  an  aggregate  of  thousands  or  tens  of  thousands 
of  separate  demands  in  the  present.  It  fluctuates  with  the  fortunes 
and  the  calculations  of  the  host  of  rival  employers.  Discrepancy 
between  two  things  so  distinct  in  immediate  origin  is  obviously  pos- 
sible. The  problem  has  merely  to  be  stated  in  order  to  shatter  the 
simple  faith  that  at  all  times  any  man  who  really  wants  work  can 
obtain  it.  There  is  nothing  in  the  existing  industrial  order  to  secure 
this  miraculously  perfect  adjustment."  With  specific  reference  to 
the  United  States,  Professor  Commons  and  some  other  authorities 
consider  IMMIGRATION  to  be  the  most  obvious  cause  of  unemployment. 
The  staff  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION  ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
reached  the  following  Conclusions:  "A  careful  analysis  of  all  avail- 
able statistics  shows  that  in  our  great  basic  industries  the  workers 
are  unemployed  for  an  average  of  at  least  one-fifth  of  the  year,  and 
that  at  all  times  during  any  normal  year  there  is  an  army  of  men, 
who  can  be  numbered  only  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  who  are  un- 
able to  find  work  or  who  have  so  far  degenerated  that  they  cannot 
or  will  not  work.  .  .  .  Fundamentally  this  unemployment  seems  to 
rise  from  two  great  causes,  although  many  others  are  contributory. 
First,  the  inequality  of  the  distribution  of  income,  which  leaves  the 
great  masses  of  the  population  (the  true  ultimate  consumers)  unable 
to  purchase  the  products  of  industry  which  they  create,  while  a  few 
have  such  a  superfluity  that  it  cannot  be  normally  consumed  but 
must  be  invested  in  new  machinery  for  production  or  in  the  further 
monopolization  of  land  and  natural  resources. . . .  The  second  principal 
cause  lies  in  the  denial  of  access  to  land  and  natural  resources  even 
when  they  are  unused  and  unproductive,  except  at  a  price  and  under 
conditions  which  are  practically  prohibitive."  Unemployment  is 

[526] 


regarded  by  many  as  the  most  important  social  problem  of  the  age, 
because  of  its  fundamental  connection  with  nearly  all  other  social 
problems.  As  far  as  immediate  causes  are  concerned,  any  compre- 
hensive and  workable  plan  for  the  prevention  of  unemployment 
should  emphasize  the  following  lines  of  activity:  (i)  Establishment 
of  public  LABOR  EXCHANGES;  (2)  systematic  distribution  of  public 
work;  (3)  REGULARIZATION  OF  INDUSTRY;  (4)  UNEMPLOYMENT  IN- 
SURANCE. (See  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS;  UNITED  STATES  EMPLOY- 
MENT SERVICE;  UNDEREMPLOYMENT;  UNEMPLOYABLES;  CYCLICAL 
FLUCTUATIONS;  INDUSTRIAL  CYCLE;  LAND  QUESTION;  UNDER- 
CONSUMPTION THEORY;  LABOR  SURPLUS;  CASUAL  LABOR;  MIGRA- 
TORY LABOR;  LABOR  COLONIES;  PERCENTAGE  OF  UNEMPLOYED; 
JOB  SELLING;  REGISTRY  SYSTEM;  DISTRIBUTION  OP  LABOR  IN  RUS- 
SIA; CONTINUITY  OF  EMPLOYMENT;  BUFFER  EMPLOYMENT;  SHORT 
TIME;  DISMISSAL  WAGE;  together  with  the  Various  cross  references 
under  these  headings.) 

Unemployment  Insurance.  That  form  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE 
which  is  intended  to  protect  the  worker  against  destitution  during  a 
period  of  involuntary  idleness.  Comprehensive  national  schemes  of 
compulsory  unemployment  insurance,  on  a  contributory  basis,  are 
now  in  effect  in  Great  Britain  and  Italy.  In  other  European  countries 
public  aid  is  given  by  municipal  or  national  authorities  to  trade 
unions,  MUTUAL  AID  SOCIETIES,  etc.,  paying  OUT-OF-WORK  BENE- 
FITS. In  the  United  States  unemployment  insurance  is  mainly  a 
trade  union  function.  According  to  Commons  and  Andrews 's  "Prin- 
ciples of  Labor  Legislation,"  "the  destitution  due  to  UNEMPLOYMENT, 
until  recently  considered  a  matter  of  purely  individual  concern,  or 
at  best  as  an  occasion  for  charitable  activity,  is  now  beginning  to 
be  recognized  as  an  evil  which  must  be  met  by  the  coordinated 
forethought  of  society  as  a  whole.  The  demoralization  of  individuals 
and  communities  by  prolonged  and  widespread  deprivation  of  income 
due  to  involuntary  idleness,  it  is  now  rather  generally  agreed,  should 
no  longer  be  allowed  to  continue  unchecked."  Among  the  results  of 
the  first  GENERAL  LABOR  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS 
in  1919  was  the  recommendation  that  each  of  the  forty-one  member 
countries  establish  "an  effective  system  of  unemployment  insur- 
ance, either  through  a  government  system  or  through  a  system  of 
government  subventions  to  associations  whose  rules  provide  for 
the  payment  of  benefits  to  their  unemployed  members."  (See  GHENT 
SYSTEM;  FONDS  NATIONALS  DE  CAISSE;  TRAVELLING  BENEFITS; 
UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE  ACT.) 

[527] 


Unemployment  Insurance  Act,  1920.  A  British  Parliamen- 
tary enactment  which  came  into  operation  November  8,  1920.  The 
Act  extends  compulsory  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE  to  substantially 
all  persons  for  whom  health  insurance  contributions  have  now  to 
be  paid  under  the  NATIONAL  INSURANCE  ACT,  with  the  exception  of 
OUTWORKERS  and  persons  employed  in  agriculture  and  private 
DOMESTIC  SERVICE.  Benefits  under  the  Act  are  payable  for  not  more 
than  fifteen  weeks  in  any  insurance  year.  Contributors  under  eighteen 
years  of  age  are  entitled  to  half  the  full  rate.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
total  number  insured  against  unemployment  in  Great  Britain  is 
now  about  12,000,000  persons,  including  non-manual  workers  in 
receipt  of  remuneration  not  exceeding  £250  a  year. 

Unfair,  Fair.    See  FAIR,  UNFAIR. 

Unfair  List.  A  list  compiled  by  trade  unions  and  containing 
the  names  of  employers  who  do  not  comply  with  union  regulations 
or  conform  to  union  conditions.  Such  lists  were  formerly  widely 
published,  in  connection  with  the  BOYCOTT  ;  but  for  legal  reasons  they 
are  now,  when  used  at  all,  privately  circulated  among  union  members. 
In  a  general  way  the  unfair  list  corresponds,  on  the  trade  union  side, 
to  the  employers'  BLACKLIST.  (See  FAIR  LIST.) 

Ungarlandischer  Gewerkschaftsrat  (Trade  Union  Commis- 
sion). The  central  organ  of  Hungarian  trade  unionism;  established 
1894.  In  1914  the  affiliated  membership  was  107,000.  After  the 
revolution  of  1918  the  membership  increased  rapidly,  the  figures 
being  500,000  at  the  end  of  1918,  and  800,000  during  the  Communist 
regime  under  Bela  Kun.  Since  then  the  Hungarian  labor  move- 
ment has  had  to  -struggle  under  continual  and  bloody  persecution 
on  the  part  of  the  reactionary  government.  According  to  the  "Re- 
port of  the  British  Joint  Labor  Delegation  on  the  White  Terror  in 
Hungary,"  based  on  investigations  made  in  May,  1920,  seventy  per 
cent  of  the  trade  union  officials  were  either  killed  or  imprisoned 
after  the  fall  of  Bela  Kun's  government,  and  labor  headquarters 
everywhere  were  burnt  and  the  funds  seized.  By  the  end  of  1919  the 
membership  of  the  Trade  Union  Commission  had  fallen  to  212,000. 
It  has  risen  slightly  since  then — the  figures  reported  in  October, 
1920,  being  215,000. 

Uniform  Transfer  Card.     See  TRANSFER  CARD. 
Union  Busters.    See  UNION  WRECKERS. 

Union  Button,    See  WORKING  BUTTON, 

[  5*8] 


Union  Cards.  See  WORKING  CARD;  DUE  CARD;  TRAVELLING 
CARD;  TRANSFER  CARD;  WITHDRAWAL  CARD;  LOAN  CARD;  COM- 
BINATION CARD;  EXEMPT  CARD;  UNION  SHOP  CARD;  CARD  SYSTEM. 

Union  Closed  Shop.     See  CLOSED  SHOP. 
Union  Contract.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Union  Departmentale.  In  France,  a  federation  of  SYNDI- 
CATS  (local  trade  unions)  in  each  of  the  eighty-seven  Departments 
(provinces)  into  which  the  country  is  divided.  Thus  the  Union 
Departmental  de  la  Seine  Inferieure  is  a  combination  of  the  various 
local  trade  unions  in  the  province  of  the  Lower  Seine.  The  Union 
Departmental  has  much  the  same  character  as  a  STATE  FEDERATION 
OF  LABOR  in  the  United  States,  and  it  allows  the  same  autonomy  to 
its  constituent  bodies.  Since  1914  the  Unions  Departmentales  have 
replaced  the  BOURSES  DU  TRAVAIL  as  part  of  the  dual  basis  of  the 
CONFEDERATION  GfiNfiRALE  DU  TRAVAIL. 

Union  General  de  Trabajadores  (General  Union  of  Workers). 
The  leading  national  organization  of  socialist  workers  in  Spain. 
It  was  founded  in  1883,  by  the  Partido  Socialista  Obrero  (Socialist 
Labor  Party).  Until  1902  the  two  organizations  were  largely  iden- 
tical. The  same  officers  continually  served  for  both,  and  the 
periodical  "  El  Socialista  "  is  still  the  organ  of  both.  The  U.  G.  T.  had 
in  1920  a  membership  of  300,000,  distributed  among  1,100  branches. 
It  is  strongest  among  the  agricultural  workers,  and  in  the  mining, 
building,  and  railway  industries.  Until  recently  its  policy  has  been 
one  of  moderate  OPPORTUNISM;  but  the  developments  of  the  past 
year  or  two  have  driven  it  far  toward  the  radical  camp.  (See  SPANISH 
LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Union  Label.  Originating  in  the  United  States  in  1875, 
the  use  of  this  trade  union  device  was  for  about  five  years  confined 
to  the  cigar  makers.  Then,  largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
KNIGHTS  OF  LABOR,  it  began  to  be  adopted  in  other  trades.  But 
until  1890  its  use  was  decidedly  limited,  and  its  primary  purpose 
was  not  as  at  present  to  secure  the  support  of  trade  unionists  and 
those  sympathetic  with  organized  labor,  but  to  combat  particular 
forms  of  competition — such  as  Chinese  labor,  PRISON  LABOR,  and 
TENEMENT-HOUSE  WORK.  The  wide  use  of  the  label  after  1890 
was  due  to  the  change  of  policy  in  shifting  its  appeal  from  the  public 
at  large  to  members  of  trade  unions.  The  label  is  now  simply  a 
public  notice  that  the  article  to  which  it  is  attached  is  "union  made," 

[529] 


*.*.,  that  it  is  made  in  a  shop  which  complies  with  all  the  WORKING 
RULES  of  the  local  and  national  union  in  the  particular  trade  involved, 
and  employs  only  members  of  the  union.  Thus  the  label  does  not 
stand  primarily  for  any  particular  set  of  conditions,  but  simply  for 
those  conditions  which  the  unions  of  each  trade  have  found  it  possible 
and  desirable  to  establish.  In  many  unions  these  conditions  are  by 
no  means  uniform  in  all  the  local  unions,  and  in  no  union  are  they 
entirely  uniform.  Therefore,  LABEL  SHOPS  and  non-label  shops  are 
often  found  within  the  same  national  union,  with  different  sets  of 
requirements  for  the  two  classes.  The  use  of  the  union  label  involves 
a  considerable  financial  outlay.  There  Is,  first,  the  expense  of  making 
and  distributing  the  labels;  this  is  either  borne  entirely  by  the  union, 
or  in  part  by  the  union  and  in  part  by  the  employer.  Much  more 
important,  however,  is  the  expense  involved  in  agitation  for  a  wider 
use  of  the  label,  and  for  creating  a  demand  for  LABEL  GOODS.  This 
expense  is  usually  borne,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  the  local  label- 
using  unions.  Laws  for  the  registration  and  protection  of  trade 
union  labels  are  in  force  in  nearly  all  states  in  this  country.  In  at 
least  four  spates  it  is  required  by  law  that  the  union  label  shall  appear 
upon  all  state  printing.  In  1890  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF 
LABOR  adopted  a  label  for  the  use  of  FEDERAL  LABOR  UNIONS  and 
LOCAL  TRADE  UNIONS  affiliated  directly  with  the  Federation.  Labels 
have  a.lso  been  adopted  by  several  alliances  of  trades  which  combine 
to  produce  a  single  product — as  printing,  for  example.  The  tech- 
nical methods  of  applying  the  union  label  vary  with  the  character 
of  the  goods  on  which  it  is  used.  In  most  cases  a  printed  paper  label 
is  pasted  on  each  article  or  (as  in  the  case  of  cigars)  on  the  box  or 
package.  The  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers  impress  their  label  on  the 
sole  or  insole  of  the  shoe  with  a  steel  stamp,  or  print  it  on  the  lining 
of  the  shoe  with  a  rubber  stamp.  In  the  garment-making  trades 
a  cloth  label  is  sewed  to  each  garment.  The  Hatters  sew  a  paper 
label  inside  the  hat  under  the  band.  A  brass  roller  bearing  the 
Bricklayers'  label  is  attached  to  the  brick-making  machine,  and  this 
stamps  the  label  into  each  brick  as  the  soft  clay  passes  under  it. 
The  Horseshoers  use  a  steel  stamp,  with  which  they  impress  their 
label  upon  the  hot  shoe.  The  labels  of  the  printers,  furnished  in  the 
form  of  small  electrotypes,  leave  their  impression  upon  the  printed 
sheet.  In  common  trade  union  usage,  the  term  "union  label" 
generally  designates  not  only  the  label  proper  but  also  UNION  SHOP 
CARDS,  WORKING  BUTTONS,  "or  any  device  worn  or  exhibited  to 
solicit  patronage  for  union  establishments  or  union  members."  (See 
LABEL  ADMINISTRATION;  LABEL  JURISDICTION;  LABEL  AGREEMENT; 

[S3o] 


LABEL  AGITATOR;  LABEL  UNIONS;  LABEL  TRADES;  JOINT  LABEL; 
UNIVERSAL  LABEL;  UNION  STAMP;  UNION  LABEL  TRADES  DEPART- 
MENT; UNION  LABEL  LEAGUES;  ALLIED  PRINTING  TRADES  COUNCILS; 
WOMEN'S  INTERNATIONAL  UNION  LABEL  LEAGUE;  MARQUE  SYN- 
DIC ALE.) 

Union  Label  Advertiser.     See  LABEL  AGITATOR. 
Union  Label  Agitator.    See  LABEL  AGITATOR. 

Union  Label  Leagues.  Local  delegate  bodies  representative 
of  trade  unions  affiliated  with  the  UNION  LABEL  TRADES  DEPART- 
MENT of  the  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  Such  Leagues  are 
chartered  by  this  Department,  and  are  devoted  to  the  same  general 
purposes.  Representation  is  on  the  basis  of  three  delegates  for  each 
local  affiliated  union.  The  usual  officers  are  elected,  and  meetings 
are  held  at  stated  intervals.  Also  called  "local  label  departments" 
and  "label  leagues." 

Union  Label  Trades  Department  of  the  American  Feder- 
ation of  Labor.  Organized  1909,  and  composed  of  "national 
and  international  unions  regularly  chartered  by  and  affiliated  to  the 
A.  F.  of  L.  using  labels,  cards,  or  buttons  on  the  products  of  their 
members  or  to  designate  membership  therein."  According  to  its 
constitution,  "the  objects  of  this  Department  shall  be  to  promote  a 
greater  demand  for  products  bearing  the  UNION  LABEL,  and  of  labor 
performed  by  union  workers;  to  investigate  into,  devise,  recommend, 
and  within  the  limit  of  its  authority  carry  into  effect  methods  for 
the  advertisement  of  union  label  products;  to  educate  the  members  of 
Trade  Unions,  their  families  and  the  general  public  upon  the  economic, 
social,  and  moral  uplift  furthered  by  the  Trade  Union  movement; 
to  further  the  general  welfare  of  all  affiliated  organizations,  and  to 
aid  in  the  work  of  organization  among  all  the  toilers  for  the  common 
good."  (See  DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OP 
LABOR;  UNION  LABEL  LEAGUES.) 

Union  Labor  The  personnel  and  activities  of  trade  union 
organizations,  in  a  collective  sense;  or  labor  performed  according 
to  union  requirements  and  under  union  conditions. 

Union  Ouvri£re.  In  France,  a  combination  of  several  syndicate 
ouvribres,  or  local  working-class  trade  unions. 

Union    Printers'    Home.     See   CHILDS-DREXEL   HOME    FOR 

UNION  PRINTERS. 

[53i] 


Union  Regionale.  In  France,  a  delegate  body  made  up  of 
representatives  from  the  SYNDICATE  (trade  unions)  of  a  given  district. 
It  resembles,  in  the  main,  a  TRADES  COUNCIL,  and  occupies  a  place 
midway  between  the  local  BOURSE  DU  TRAVAIL  and  the  UNION 

DEPARTMENTALE. 

Union  Sacree.     See  FRENCH  LABOR  MOVEMENT. 

Union  Scab.  One  of  the  chief  indictments  brought  by  advo- 
cates of  INDUSTRIAL  UNIONISM,  particularly  of  the  revolutionary 
type,  against  CRAFT  UNIONISM  is  that  it  involves  what  they  call 
"organized  scabbery"  and  makes  of  its  members  at  times  what  are 
termed  "union  scabs"  or  "contract  scabs."  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  craft  unions  are  bound,  as  a  rule,  by  separate  TRADE  AGREE- 
MENTS with  their  employer,  and  the  members  of  a  craft  union  must 
therefore  usually  remain  at  work  at  a  time  when  the  members  of  an- 
other craft  in  the  same  industry  may  be  on  strike,  thus  actually 
helping — however  indirectly  and  involuntarily — to  defeat  the  strike. 
On  this  same  account,  craft  unions  are  sometimes  dubbed  "scab 
unions"  by  the  revolutionaries.  (See  SCAB.) 

Union  Scale.     See  SCALE. 

Union  Shop.  This  term  is  variously  defined  by  various 
authorities.  But  in  the  most  obvious  sense,  it  may  be  said  to  be  an 
industrial  establishment  in  which  union  conditions  prevail — in  which 
wages,  hours,  and  other  details  have  been  made  to  conform  to  trade 
union  standards,  generally  by  joint  agreement  between  employer  and 
union.  The  CLOSED  SHOP  is  of  necessity  a  union  shop.  But  so  also, 
under  this  definition,  is  the  OPEN  SHOP  conducted  under  a  TRADE 
AGREEMENT  establishing  union  hours,  wages,  and  conditions,  even 
though  some  of  the  workers  are  non-unionists.  The  PREFERENTIAL 
SHOP  would  also  come  under  this  head.  (See  NON-UNION  SHOP; 
MIXED  SHOP.) 

Union  Shop  Card.  A  printed  announcement  for  display  in 
retail  stores,  theatres,  hotels,  restaurants,  etc.,  stating  that  the 
establishment  authorized  to  display  this  card  conforms  to  trade  union 
conditions.  The  union  shop  card  is  similar  in  its  purposes  to  the 
UNION  LABEL.  It  is  used  in  those  trades  where  the  labor  of  the 
workman  results  in  the  rendering  of  a  service  rather  than  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  commodity — for  example,  the  work  of  a  barber  or  of  a 
retail  clerk — and  where  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  no  label 
could  be  employed. 


Union  Smashers.     See  UNION  WRECKERS. 

Union  Stamp.  The  UNION  LABEL,  when  stamped  directly 
upon  an  article,  instead  of  being  pasted,  sewed,  or  otherwise  attached, 
is  sometimes  so  called. 

Union  Wreckers.  Those  employers  of  labor  who  are  con- 
sistently hostile  to  trade  unions,  or  EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATIONS  of 
anti-union  tendencies,  are  often  so  called.  The  term  is  also  used 
among  trade  unionists  in  designation  of  an  extreme  form  of  SCAB. 
Thus,  in  the  constitution  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  Union,  a 
union  wrecker  is  defined  substantially  as  one  who  goes  into  the 
jurisdiction  of  a  union  on  strike  and  accepts  employment  and  per- 
sists in  retaining  it,  or  who  leaves  a  union  to  defeat  a  legitimate  strike. 
The  terms  "union  busters"  and  "union  smashers"  are  also  frequently 
used  in  the  above-described  meanings. 

Unione  Italiana  del  Lavoro  (Italian  Union  of  Labor).  Formed 
in  1917,  as  a  pro- war  secessionist  movement,  under  Alceste  de  Ambris, 
from  the  CONFEDERAZIONE  GENERALE  DEL  LAVORO.  It  functions  as 
an  economic  adjunct  to  the  new  pro-war  socialist  party,  much  as  the 
C.  G.  L.  functions  for  the  old  one.  Its  programme  is  a  combination 
of  SYNDICALISM  and  nationalism.  A  membership  of  125,000  is  claimed 
for  the  organization.  (See  ITALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Unione  Syndicate  Italiana.  A  national  federation  dating 
from  1912,  of  the  anarchist-syndicalist  labor  organizations  of  Italy. 
With  a  constituent  membership  of  about  100,000  early  in  1919,  the 
Unione  has  grown  very  considerably  in  numbers  during  the  past  two 
years.  "Though  the  Unione  Syndicate  can  not  be  compared,  numeri- 
cally, with  the  CONFEDERAZIONE  GENERALE  DEL  LAVORO,  it  is  a  per- 
petual menace  to  the  larger  organization,  being  ready  to  gobble  up 
its  members  the  moment  it  ceases  to  respond  to  the  increasingly 
revolutionary  wishes  of  the  workers.  If  the  trades-unionists  and 
Socialists  make  promises  which  they  can  not  keep,  the  anarchists  are 
on  the  spot  to  offer  a  new  and  more  daring  way.  Indeed,  the  Unione 
Syndicate  stands  somewhat  in  the  position  of  the  I.  W.  W.  in  Amer- 
ica." The  "U.  S.  I.,"  as  it  is  popularly  known,  is  organized  on  a 
basis  similar  to  that  of  the  Confederazione  Generate  del  Lavoro,  its 
constituent  units  being  chambers  of  labor  (CAMERE  DEL  LAVORO)  and 
trade  federations  (FEDERAZIONE  DEI  MESTIERE).  It  advocates  the 
local,  autonomous  fighting  unit  (trade  union  or  chamber  of  labor), 
organization  along  industrial  rather  than  craft  lines,  non-participa- 

[533] 


tion  in  politics,  DIRECT  ACTION,  and  the  GENERAL  STRIKE  as  a  medns  of 
overthrowing  CAPITALISM  and  the  capitalistic  State.  It  has  come 
into  frequent  conflict  with  the  Italian  government.  (See  ITALIAN 
LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Unioni  Cattoliche  (Catholic  Unions).  See  CONFEDERAZIONE 
ITALIANA  DEI  LAVORATORI;  WHITE  UNIONS. 

Unionism.  In  a  general  sense,  the  association  for  joint  action 
and  mutual  assistance  of  persons  having  in  common  the  same  eco- 
nomic and  social  interests  or  the  same  viewpoint  in  regard  to  economic 
and  social  matters.  TRADE  UNIONISM,  which  represents  the  common 
interests  of  wage-earners,  is  but  a  single  phase  of  the  universal  tend- 
ency toward  unionism.  EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATIONS,  granges  and 
farm  bureaus,  bar  associations,  chambers  of  commerce,  and  numerous 
other  phases,  are  equally  representative  of  the  same  tendency. 

Unionization.  The  process  or  method  of  organizing  non- 
union workers  into  trade  unions.  In  regard  to  the  ways  and  means 
by  which  unionization  is  brought  about,  according  to  Weyforth's 
"The  Organizability  of  Labor,"  there  are  three  problems  involved. 
"First,  individuals  must  be  brought  together  for  combined  action. 
Here  it  is  a  problem  of  getting  the  men  into  the  union.  Second,  this 
original  combination  of  forces  must  be  given  stability  and  perma- 
nence. Here  it  is  a  problem  of  holding  the  men  in  the  union.  Prob- 
lems of  this  sort  are  naturally  present,  although  probably  in  different 
degrees,  in  forming  any  sort  of  association,  trade  union  or  otherwise. 
In  the  organizing  of  labor,  however,  still  a  third  factor  is  found, 
namely,  the  attitude  of  the  employer  toward  the  organization  of  his 
employees.  Since  this  attitude  has  usually  been  one  of  hostility 
and  has  led  to  efforts  to  prevent  the  formation  of  unions,  the  com- 
plete analysis  of  the  mechanism  of  organizing  requires  also  a  con- 
sideration of  the  methods  by  which  the  opposition  of  the  employer 
is  overcome  and  of  the  difficulties  and  limitations  in  the  way  of  the 
effective  application  of  these  methods."  The  initial  work  of  union- 
ization is  now  mainly  conducted  by  salaried  trade  union  officials 
known  as  ORGANIZERS.  But  their  work  is  supplemented  in  large 
measure  by  a  number  of  more  indirect  and  occasional  factors, 
of  which  the  STRIKE,  the  CLOSED  SHOP,  the  BOYCOTT,  and  the  UNION 
LABEL  are  of  chief  importance. 

Unitary  Control.  As  opposed  to  TRIPARTITE  CONTROL,  this 
means  the  domination  of  a  single  set  of  interests  (those  of  either 
employers,  wage-earners,  of  "the  public")  in  the  management  and 
control  of  industry. 

[534] 


United  Communist  Party.  Organized  in  1920,  as  the  result 
of  a  merger  between  one  wing  of  the  COMMUNIST  PARTY  OF  AMERICA 
and  the  Communist  Labor  Party  of  North  America.  The  third 
INTERNATIONALE  recognizes  this  as  the  official  communist  organiza- 
tion of  the  United  States,  although  the  remainder  of  the  Communist 
Party  of  America  still  maintains  a  separate  existence.  Both  parties 
have  been  officially  outlawed  by  the  United  States  government, 
and  aliens  belonging  to  either  organization  are  subject  to  deportation. 

United  Labor  Education  Committee.  A  body  representative 
of  trade  unions  and  persons  interested  in  trade  unionism,  recently 
formed  in  New  York  City  to  advance  the  interests  of  non-vocational 
WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION.  The  expenses  are  met  by  contributions 
from  the  affiliated  organizations  and  individuals,  the  amount  for 
each  organization  being  based  upon  its  membership  and  financial 
condition.  The  Committee  is  governed  by  an  executive  board  made 
up  of  representatives  of  the  affiliated  organizations.  Its  educational 
programme  includes  lectures,  classes  for  trade  union  officers,  classes 
for  the  general  membership,  concerts,  the  theatre  and  opera,  etc. 
Classes  for  the  general  membership  are  of  the  character  of  the  British 
TUTORIAL  CLASSES.  They  are  formed  at  the  request  of  groups  of 
twenty-five  or  more  persons,  and  are  held  in  districts  convenient  to 
the  workers  making  the  request.  Each  course  consists  of  ten  weekly 
lectures.  It  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  Committee  to  become  "the 
nucleus  out  of  which  the  educational  branch  of  the  labor  movement 
will  grow." 

United  States  Board  of  Mediation  and  Conciliation.  A 
permanent  body  created  in  1913,  under  the  NEWLANDS  ACT,  for  the 
settlement  of  such  disputes  between  interstate  railroads  and  their 
employees  engaged  in  train  service  over  questions  of  wages,  hours 
of  labor,  or  conditions  of  employment  as  may  threaten  serious  inter- 
ruption of  business.  The  Board  now  consists  of  three  salaried  com- 
missioners, appointed  by  the  President  and  serving  for  seven  years. 
Either  party  to  a  dispute  may  appeal  to  the  Board  for  MEDIATION 
or  for  its  services  in  bringing  about  ARBITRATION.  Also  the  Board 
may  at  its  discretion  offer  its  services  of  its  own  initiative.  The 
award  must  be  accepted  by  both  parties,  though  this  provision  is 
qualified  so  as  to  protect  individual  rights  that  might  otherwise 
raise  the  question  of  constitutionality.  Under  the  Transportation 
Act  of  1920  it  is  provided  that  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Board 
shall  not  extend  to  any  dispute  received  for  hearing  and  decision 
by  the  RAILROAD  LABOR  BOARD. 

[535] 


United  States  Department  of  Labor.  One  of  the  ten  main 
executive  divisions  of  the  Federal  government.  Its  historical  genesis 
is  as  follows:  As  the  result  of  long  agitation  on  the  part  of  wage- 
earners,  a  Federal  "Bureau  of  Labor"  was  created  in  1884,  under  the 
jurisdiction  and  control  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  In  1888 
this  was  promoted  to  independent  status  as  a  "Department  of  Labor," 
but  without  being  given  executive  rank  with  the  other  governmental 
departments.  In  1903  an  executive  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  was  created,  and  the  previous  " Department  of  Labor"  became 
a  "Bureau  of  Labor"  under  the  jurisdiction  of  this  new  department. 
In  1913  the  labor  activities  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  were  separately  organized  in  a  full-fledged  executive  Depart- 
ment of  Labor.  In  the  organic  act  of  March  4,  1913,  creating  the 
Department  it  is  stated  that  "The  purpose  of  the  Department  of 
Labor  shall  be  to  foster,  promote,  and  develop  the  welfare  of  the 
wage-earners  of  the  United  States,  to  improve  their  working  condi- 
tions, and  to  advance  their  opportunities  for  profitable  employment." 
Under  this  organic  act,  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  its  title  altered  to 
BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS,  came  under  the  jurisdiction  and  super- 
vision of  the  Department  of  Labor.  So  did  the  CHILDREN'S  BUREAU. 
The  Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization  was  also  placed 
under  the  Department  of  Labor,  its  title  being  altered  to  Bureau  of 
Immigration.  To  those  three  bureaus  a  fourth  was  added  by  raising 
the  Division  of  Naturalization  in  the  former  Bureau  of  Immigration 
and  Naturalization  to  the  rank  of  a  bureau — the  present  Bureau  of 
Naturalization.  Thus  the  bureaus  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  and 
supervision  of  the  Department  of  Labor  by  its  organic  act,  and  which 
still  remain  so,  are  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  the  IMMIGRATION 
BUREAU,  the  Children's  Bureau,  and  the  NATURALIZATION  BUREAU. 
Besides  these  four  bureaus,  other  activities  were  later  separately 
organized  in  the  CONCILIATION  DIVISION,  the  UNITED  STATES  EM- 
PLOYMENT SERVICE,  the  NEGRO  ECONOMICS  DIVISION,  the  WOMEN'S 
BUREAU  (formerly  known  as  the  "Woman  in  Industry  Service"),  the 
INDUSTRIAL  HOUSING  AND  TRANSPORTATION  BUREAU,  the  UNITED 
STATES  TRAINING  SERVICE,  and  the  WORKING  CONDITIONS  SERVICE. 
Of  these  later  sections,  only  the  Women's  Bureau  has  been  placed  upon 
a  permanent  statutory  basis  by  Congress.  Others,  as  well  as  some 
not  mentioned  above,  were  purely  war-time  services,  which  have 
now  ceased  to  function;  while  the  United  States  Employment  Serv- 
ice and  the  Negro  Economics  Division  maintain  a  precarious  and 
uncertain  existence  on  niggardly  Congressional  appropriations.  At 
the  head  of  the  Department  of  Labor  is  the  SECRETARY  or  LABOR, 

[536] 


who  is  a  member  of  the  President's  Cabinet.  The  subordinate  offi- 
cers include  the  Assistant  Secretary,  a  News-Release  Officer,  the 
Solicitor  (who  is  also  Acting  Secretary  under  certain  circumstances), 
the  Chief  Clerk,  the  Disbursing  Clerk,  the  Appointment  Clerk,  and 
the  heads  of  the  various  bureaus,  divisions,  services,  etc.,  which  come 
under  the  Department's  jurisdiction.  (See  PRESIDENT'S  MEDIATION 
COMMISSION;  NATIONAL  WAR  LABOR  BOARD;  WAR  LABOR  POLICIES 
BOARD;  LABOR  OUTINGS.) 

United  States  Employees'  Compensation  Act.  A  Con- 
gressional enactment  which  extends  the  advantages  of  WORKMEN'S 
COMPENSATION  to  certain  employees  of  the  government  who  are 
injured  in  the  performance  of  their  duties.  The  BENEFITS  provided 
are  of  three  classes:  (i)  Medical  and  hospital  treatment;  (2)  money 
compensation  for  loss  of  wages  in  excess  of  three  days;  and  (3) 
money  compensation  to  surviving  dependents  of  employees  dying 
as  a  result  of  injuries.  The  act  is  administered  by  an  Employees' 
Compensation  Commission,  acting  under  control  of  the  United 
States  Public  Health  Service. 

United  States  Employment  Service.  A  non-statutory  divi- 
sion of  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  created  by  order 
of  the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  on  January  3,  1918,  "to  foster,  promote, 
and  develop  the  welfare  of  the  wage-earners  of  the  United  States  by 
so  conserving  and  distributing  their  industrial  activities  as  to  im- 
prove their  working  conditions  and  advance  their  opportunities  for 
profitable  employment,  in  harmony  with  the  general  good,  with  the 
necessities  of  war,  with  the  just  interests  of  employers,  and  with  the 
development  in  practice  of  the  recognized  principle  of  a  common 
responsibility  for  production  and  a  common  interest  in  distribution." 
For  fifteen  months  the  Service  performed  an  exceedingly  difficult 
task  with  remarkable  success,  building  up  a  widespread  system  of 
Federal  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS  in  every  part  of  the  country,  and  co- 
ordinating the  work  of  such  state  and  municipal  bureaus  as  were 
already  in  existence.  Then  Congress  began  its  typical  withdrawal  of 
financial  support.  For  a  time  the  cooperation  and  backing  of  various 
welfare  agencies,  public  authorities,  and  private  citizens  made  it 
possible  for  the  Service  to  "carry  on"  in  its  vitally  important  work. 
But  in  October,  1919,  owing  to  lack  of  funds,  the  employment  offices 
up  to  that  time  operated  by  the  Service  were  turned  over  to  the 
several  states  and  municipalities  in  which  they  had  been  maintained, 
or,  where  this  was  not  possible,  they  were  abandoned.  The  system 
of  cooperation  with  the  states  and  municipalities  which  had  been 

I  537] 


established  was,  however,  maintained  and  developed.  (See  NATIONAL 
CLEARING  HOUSE  FOR  LABOR;  ZONE  CLEARANCE  SYSTEM;  INDUS- 
TRIAL EMPLOYMENT  SURVEY;  LABOR  OUTINGS;  HOUSEHOLD  ASSIS- 
TANT SYSTEM.) 

United  States  Housing  Corporation.  See  INDUSTRIAL  HOUS- 
ING AND  TRANSPORTATION  BUREAU. 

United  States  Training  Service.  This  section  of  the  UNITED 
STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR  was  a  temporary  war-time  agency 
organized  in  July,  1918,  in  response  to  President  Wilson's  request 
that  the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  should  institute  "a  satisfactory  method 
and  administration  for  training  of  workers"  and  "an  agency  for 
DILUTION  of  skilled  labor  as  and  when  needed."  It  was  at  first  called 
the  "Training  and  Dilution  Service."  The  Service  was  abandoned 
at  the  end  of  June,  1919. 

Universal  Label.  Instead  of  the  present  practice  of  having  a 
separate  UNION  LABEL  design  for  each  label  trade  or  industry,  it  has 
often  been  proposed  that  there  should  be  a  single  uniform  or  "uni- 
versal" label,  to  be  used  by  all  LABEL  UNIONS  affiliated  with  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR.  This  proposal,  however,  has 
never  made  any  very  appreciable  headway.  The  label  used  by  the 
INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD  is  a  "universal  label,"  the  de- 
sign, color,  etc.,  being  identical  for  all  industries. 

Universite  du  Peuple  (Paris).  See  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCA- 
TION. 

Unlawful  Persuasion.    See  PICKETING. 
Unpractical  Man.    See  PRACTICAL  MAN. 
Unrest.     See  INDUSTRIAL  UNREST. 

Unskilled  Worker.  One  engaged  in  any  form  of  industrial 
labor  for  which  little  if  any  preliminary  training  is  required.  Com- 
posed as  it  is  mainly  of  skilled  CRAFT  UNIONS,  American  trade  unionism 
has  given  but  slight  recognition  to  the  unskilled  worker — whose  con- 
dition most  needs  amelioration.  But  due  in  part  to  the  propaganda 
of  the  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD  and  in  part  to  other 
factors,  this  situation  is  now  changing.  To  quote  Dr.  Glocker: 
"As  DIVISION  OF  LABOR  becomes  more  minute,  as  the  old  method  of 
APPRENTICESHIP  fails,  and  as  the  groups  of  skilled  and  semi-skilled 
are  being  recruited  in  an  increasing  number  of  instances  by  the 
promotion  of  the  common  laborers  required  for  the  many  odd  jobs 

[538] 


existing  in  every  industrial  establishment,  the  other  trades  are  mani- 
festing a  growing  tendency  to  admit  such  potentially  dangerous  com- 
petitors to  their  unions."  (See  SKILLED  WORKER;  SEMI-SKILLED 
WORKER;  LABORER;  COMMON  LABOR;  GREEN  HANDS;  GENERAL 
WORKERS;  IMMIGRATION.) 

Unternehmer.    See  ENTREPRENEUR. 

Uplift  Unionism  or  Friendly  Unionism.  Terms  used  by 
Professor  Hoxie  in  designation  of  the  functional  type  of  labor  organ- 
ization that  seeks  to  elevate  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  social  life 
of  the  worker  as  well  as  improve  his  conditions  of  labor.  It  employs 
COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING,  but  resorts  by  preference  to  POLITICAL 
ACTION,  and  emphasizes  MUTUAL  INSURANCE,  PROFIT  SHARING,  and 
COOPERATION.  It  is  as  a  rule  conservative  and  law-abiding,  and  shares 
many  other  of  the  characteristics  of  BUSINESS  UNIONISM.  (See  OLD 
UNIONISM.) 

Utility  Man.  In  some  industries,  this  is  the  common  desig- 
nation for  "an  experienced,  all-round,  handy  employee  who  is 
shifted  from  one  kind  of  work  to  another  as  needed,  and  fills  in  tem- 
porarily for  employees  who  are  absent  from  duty." 

Utopian  Socialism.  In  its  dogmatic  form,  the  doctrine  that 
society  should  be  reconstructed  to  conform  to  an  ideal  pattern  de- 
vised by  some  individual  thinker.  The  forms  of  socialism  known  as 
SAINT-SIMONISM  and  FOURIERISM  are  of  this  kind.  As  contrasted 
with  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIALISM,  which  holds  that  social  institutions  are 
moulded  by  material  forces  over  which  man  has  no  conscious  control, 
Utopian  socialism  holds  that  the  future  of  society  can  be  shaped  by 
deliberate  choice  and  action  on  the  part  of  its  members. 


V 


Vacant  Book.     See  REGISTRY  SYSTEM. 

Vacationists.  A  term  applied  by  strikers  to  themselves 
when  they  wish  to  avoid  the  technical  admission  that  they  are 
exerting  economic  pressure  by  concerted  action.  It  first  appeared 
during  the  New  York  printers'  strike  of  1919,  which  was  not  author- 
ized by  the  international  union  officials;  and  was  used  again  by  the 
railroad  men  in  1920,  who  were  wary  of  prosecution  under  the  Federal 
law.  Dissatisfied  workers  who,  for  one  reason  or  another,  are  for- 
bidden to  strike  now  merely  "take  vacations."  (See  OUTLAWS; 
SECESSIONISTS;  STRIKE  IN  DETAIL.) 

Vagabond's  Wage.  A  term  sometimes  used  in  designation  of 
a  sum  sufficient  to  secure  the  minimum  necessities  of  life,  which 
under  some  future  form  of  society  would  be  paid  to  all  persons  equally, 
regardless  of  whether  they  work  or  not. 

Value  of  Labor.     See  LABOR  COST;  WAGES. 

Vertical  Combination.    See  LARGE-SCALE  PRODUCTION. 

Vested  Interests  Doctrine.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  use  this 
term  in  designation  of  the  common  trade  union  assumption  "that 
the  wages  and  other  conditions  of  amployment  hitherto  enjoyed  by 
any  section  of  workmen  ought  under  no  circumstances  to  be  inter- 
fered with  for  the  worse.  It  was  this  doctrine  .  .  .  which  inspired  the 
long  struggle  .  .  .  against  the  introduction  of  machinery,  or  any  in- 
novation in  processes.  It  is  this  doctrine  which  today  gives  the 
bitterness  to  DEMARCATION  disputes,  and  lies  at  the  back  of  all  the 
Regulations  dealing  with  the  'RIGHT  TO  A  TRADE.'  It  does  more  than 
anything  else  to  keep  alive  the  idea  of  '  PATRIMONY  '  and  the  practice 
of  a  lengthened  period  of  APPRENTICESHIP,  whilst  it  induces  the 
workmen  of  particular  trades  to  cling  fondly  to  the  expedient  of 
limiting  the  numbers  entering  those  trades,  even  after  experience 
has  proved  such  a  limitation  to  be  impracticable.  But  the  Doctrine 
of  Vested  Interests  extends  much  further  than  these  particular 


Regulations.  There  is  scarcely  an  industry  in  which  it  will  not  be 
found,  on  one  occasion  or  another,  inspiring  the  defence  of  the  cus- 
tomary rates  of  wages  or  any  threatened  privilege.  In  some  cases, 
indeed,  we  find  the  whole  argument  for  Trade  Unionism  based  on 
this  one  conception." 

Vestibule  Schools.  Refers  to  a  plan  of  training  new  workers, 
particularly  women,  in  large  industrial  plants.  Under  this  plan 
machinery  is  installed  in  a  reserved  section  of  the  factory  proper  or 
in  a  separate  building  which  is  a  part  of  the  plant.  In  these  instruc- 
tion rooms  working  conditions  are  reproduced  as  nearly  as  possible, 
so  that  the  workers  may  not  only  absorb  a  littl  5  of  the  shop  atmosphere 
and  conquer  the  timidity  induced  by  new  work  in  unusual  surround- 
ings but  also  acquire  some  degree  of  skill  before  beginning  work  in 
the  shop.  Vestibule  training  was  widely  practiced  during  the  recent 
war,  particularly  in  connection  with  the  process  known  as  DILUTION 

OF   LABOR. 

Vice  Principal  Doctrine.     See  SUPERIOR  SERVANT  DOCTRINE. 

Victim  Pay  or  Victimization  Pay.  A  form  of  OUT-OF-WORK 
BENEFIT  accorded  to  trade  union  members  who,  because  of  special 
zeal  or  activity  in  union  matters,  have  been  discharged  by  their  em- 
ployers. It  is  usually  more  liberal  than  the  ordinary  out-of-work 
benefit,  and  in  a  few  unions  is  equal  to  the  full  wages  of  the  "vic- 
timized"  member.  (See  VICTIMIZATION.) 

Victimization.  As  used  in  labor  circles,  this  term  usually 
refers  to  the  dismissal,  ordinarily  on  some  petty  or  invented  charge, 
of  a  workman  who  has  offended  his  foreman  or  employer  by  undue 
zeal  as  a  trade  union  official,  strike  leader,  SHOP  STEWARD,  or  in  some 
other  similar  capacity.  In  a  less  extreme  form,  victimization  may 
consist  in  unfair  DOCKING  or  in  assigning  an  undesirable  job  or  place 
of  work  to  an  "offending"  worker,  or  in  various  other  practices 
known  to  foremen,  superintendents,  and  employers.  A  trade  unionist 
who  has  suffered  from  victimization  is  sometimes  referred  to  by  his 
fellow-unionists  as  a  "sacrificed  member."  (See  VICTIM  PAY;  ONE- 
MAN  STRIKE;  ALLOCATION  OF  WORK.) 

Victorian  Wages  Board  System.  As  adopted  by  the  Australian 
state  of  Victoria  in  1896,  this  is  a  method  of  compulsory  industrial 
regulation  by  means  of  official  wages  boards  for  particular  industries. 
The  original  act  applied  only  to  certain  "sweated"  trades,  but  since 
1903  it  has  been  extended  to  cover  practically  all  the  ordinary  indus- 

l54i] 


tries  of  the  state.  A  wages  board  consists  of  an  equal  number  of 
employers  and  workers,  chosen  by  the  government,  with  an  IMPAR- 
TIAL CHAIRMAN.  Its  function  is  to  fix  minimum  standards  of  wages, 
hours,  and  working  conditions  in  a  single  industry.  The  finding  of 
the  board  becomes  the  common  rule  for  that  industry,  and  any  em- 
ployer who  goes  below  the  standard  fixed  is  subject  to  cash  penalties. 
The  functions  of  a  wages  board  indirectly  give  it  a  considerable  source 
of  control  over  industrial  disputes;  but  the  RIGHT  TO  STRIKE  is  not 
seriously  interfered  with.  The  British  TRADE  BOARDS  ACT  of  1909 
copies  the  main  outlines  of  the_Victorian  wages  board  system.  (See 
WAGE  BOARDS.) 

Vienna  Internationale.  See  INTERNATIONAL  WORKING  UNION 
OF  SOCIALIST  PARTIES. 

Vigilance  Committee.    See  WATCH  COMMITTEE. 
Villeinage.     See  SERFDOM. 

Violence  in  the  Labor  Movement.  Whether  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  "highly  excited  feeling  or  action,"  in  the  legal  sense  of  "un- 
lawful exercise  of  physical  force,"  or  in  the  extreme  sense  of  "physical 
outrage  or  injury,"  violence  exists  in  the  labor  movement  to  about 
the  same  relative  extent,  probably,  as  in  any  other  definite  section 
or  group  of  society.  The  staff  report  of  the  FEDERAL  COMMISSION 
ON  INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  contains  the  following  conclusions  on  the 
subject:  "Violence  is  seldom,  if  ever,  spontaneous,  but  arises  from  a 
conviction  that  fundamental  rights  are  denied  and  that  peaceful 
methods  of  adjustment  can  not  be  used.  The  sole  exception  seems  to 
lie  in  the  situation  where,  intoxicated  with  power,  the  stronger  party 
to  the  dispute  relies  upon  force  to  suppress  the  weaker.  The  arbitrary 
suppression  of  violence  by  force  produces  only  resentment,  which 
will  rekindle  into  greater  violence  when  opportunity  offers.  Violence 
can  be  prevented  only  by  removing  the  causes  of  violence;  industrial 
peace  can  rest  only  upon  industrial  justice.  The  origin  of  violence 
in  connection  with  industrial  disputes  can  usually  be  traced  to  the 
conditions  prevailing  in  the  particular  industry  in  times  of  peace  or 
to  arbitrary  action  on  the  part  of  governmental  officials  which  in- 
fringes on  what  are  conceived  to  be  fundamental  rights.  Violence  and 
disorder  during  actual  outbreaks  usually  result  from  oppressive  con- 
ditions that  have  obtained  in  a  particular  shop  or  factory  or  in  a  par- 
ticular industry.  Throughout  history  where  a  people  or  a  group  have 
been  arbitrarily  denied  rights  which  they  conceived  to  be  theirs, 
reaction  has  been  inevitable.  Violence  is  a  natural  form  of  protest 

[542] 


against  injustice.  Violence  in  industrial  disputes  is  not  immediately 
the  product  of  industrial  conditions,  but  of  the  attitude  of  the  parties 
to  the  dispute  after  grievances  or  demands  have  been  presented. 
The  principal  sources  of  an  attitude  leading  to  violence  are:  (i) 
Arrogance  on  the  part  of  the  stronger  party.  This  may  result  im- 
mediately in  violence  through  the  use  of  force  for  the  suppression  of 
the  weaker  party.  The  force  used  may  be  physical  or  industrial. 
Physical  force  may  be  and  is  used  by  both  employers  and  employees, 
through  INTIMIDATION,  assaults,  or  attacks  on  property.  Such  phys- 
ical aggression  is  seldom  used  by  employees,  as  they  are  strategically 
the  weaker  party  and  the  results  are  negative;  only  under  exceptional 
circumstances  can  an  employer  be  coerced  by  the  use  of  force  or  in- 
timidation. The  exceptions  seem  to  lie  in  the  use  of  secret  means, 
such  as  dynamite,  with  the  object  of  weakening  the  employer's 
resistance.  The  use  of  force  by  workers  is  normally  directed  not 
against  the  person  or  property  of  the  employer,  but  against  STRIKE- 
BREAKERS and  guards.  Many  instances  of  the  use  of  physical  force 
by  the  agents  of  employers  have,  however,  come  before  the  Com- 
mission, indicating  a  relatively  wide  use,  particularly  in  isolated  com- 
munities. Such  acts  of  violence  usually  take  the  form  of  assaults 
upon  the  leaders  of  the  workers  or  upon  ORGANIZERS.  ...  (2)  Equally 
productive  of  an  attitude  leading  to  violence  is  the  denial  of  the  use 
of  paaceful  methods  of  adjusting  grievances,  or  the  creation  of  a 
situation  in  which  their  use  becomes  impossible.  On  the  part  of  the 
employer  the  arbitrary  acts  which  may  be  classed  under  this  general 
head  are:  Denial  of  the  right  to  organize;  refusal  to  consider  the 
complaints  of  workers;  refusal  to  meet  the  authorized  representa- 
tives of  the  workers.  ...  On  the  part  of  the  workers,  the  possibility 
of  peaceful  settlement  may  be  destroyed  by  refusal  to  discuss  claims, 
by  internal  dissensions  which  render  collective  and  definite  action 
looking  to  a  settlement  impossible,  and  by  the  issuance  of  ultimata 
which  allow  no  time  for  consideration  and  negotiation.  In  any  one 
of  these  situations  the  employer  has  only  the  choice  between  tame 
submission  or  absolute  resistance  to  the  demands  of  the  workers. 
(3)  The  immediate  caus3  of  violence  in  connection  with  industiial 
disputes  is  almost  without  exception  the  attempt  to  introduce 
strikebreakers  to  take  the  place  of  the  workers  who  have  struck  or 
who  are  locked  out.  The  entiie  problem  of  policing  industrial  dis- 
putes grows  out  of  the  problem  of  the  strikebreaker  and  the  attitude 
of  the  State  toward  him.  ...  (4)  The  greatest  disorders  and  most 
acute  outbreaks  of  violence  in  connection  with  industrial  disputes 
arise  from  the  violation  of  what  are  considered  to  be  fundamental 

[543] 


rights,  and  from  the  perversion  or  subversion  of  governmental 
institutions."  (See  MOLLY  MAGUIRES;  MCNAMARA  CASE;  BISBEE 
DEPORTATIONS;  POLICING  OP  INDUSTRY;  ARMED  GUARDS;  AGENT 
PROVOCATEUR;  STATE  CONSTABULARY;  PREDATORY  UNIONISM.) 

Visiting  Committee.    See  MALINGERING. 
Vocational  Counsellor.    See  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE. 

Vocational  Education.  That  form  of  instruction  which  aims 
toward  the  development  of  efficiency  in  a  particular  vocation  or 
occupation,  rather  than  towards  general  cultural  development. 
Including,  as  it  does,  training  for  particular  professions  as  well  as 
particular  trades,  vocational  education  denotes  the  broad  general 
field  of  which  trade  education,  technical  education,  and  professional 
education  are  merely  special  phases.  Vocational  education  usually 
includes  some  general  instruction,  especially  in  subjects  more  closely 
related  to  the  vocation  to  be  followed.  Under  the  Federal  Vocational 
Education  Act  of  February,  1917,  the  various  states  of  the  American 
Union  are  encouraged  to  make  provision  for  the  training  of  normal 
persons  about  to  enter,  or  after  entering,  an  employment,  by  Federal 
grants  equal  in  amount  (within  certain  limits)  to  sums  appropriated 
by  state  and  local  authorities  for  this  purpose.  (See  VOCATIONAL 
REHABILITATION;  TRADE  SCHOOLS;  PART-TIME  SCHOOLS;  VOCA- 
TIONAL GUIDANCE;  PREVOCATIONAL  EDUCATION.) 

Vocational  Guidance.  This  term  is  applied  to  various  forms 
of  effort  directed  in  general  toward  helping  young  people  in  the 
problem  of  preparing  for  a  particular  vocation  and  in  finding  a  suit- 
able and  desirable  entrance  into  that  vocation.  Such  efforts  are 
carried  on  by  many  different  sorts  of  agencies — public  school  author- 
ities, teachers'  associations,  chambers  of  commerce,  etc.  The  officer 
in  charge  of  such  work  is  often  called  a  "vocational  counsellor." 

Vocational  Rehabilitation.  The  retraining,  for  remunera- 
tive occupations,  of  persons  who  have  been  so  injured  as  to  render 
them  incapable  of  following  their  previous  occupations.  The  move- 
ment for  vocational  rehabilitation  received  great  impetus  from  con- 
ditions produced  by  the  recent  war.  In  June,  1918,  Congress  passed 
a  Vocational  Rehabilitation  Act,  under  which  the  various  states  of 
the  Union  are  encouraged  to  make  provision  for  the  industrial  reha- 
bilitation of  disabled  ex-service  men  by  the  offer  of  Federal  grants, 
equal  in  amount  to  whatever  sums  may  be  appropriated  by  the  state 
or  local  authorities  for  this  purpose,  within  certain  limits.  Under 

[544] 


the  Industrial  Rehabilitation  Act  of  June,  1920,  the  provisions  of 
the  previous  Act  were  extended  to  apply  to  all  disabled  workers, 
whatever  the  cause  of  their  disablement.  The  administration  of 
these  two  measures,  together  with  that  of  the  Vocational  Education 
Act  of  February,  1917,  is  placed  in  charge  of  the  Federal  Board  for 
Vocational  Education,  consisting  of  the  Secretaries  of  Labor,  Agri- 
culture, and  Commerce,  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  and 
three  citizens  appointed  by  the  President  to  represent  respectively 
agricultural,  manufacturing  and  commercial,  and  labor  interests. 
Some  systems  of  WORKMEN'S  COMPENSATION  carry  provisions  for 
vocational  rehabilitation,  including  surgical  and  medical  aid,  general 
reeducation,  and  assistance  in  finding  reemployment. 

Voluntary  Arbitration.     See  ARBITRATION. 

Voluntary  Award.    See  AWARD. 

Voluntary  Benefit  Associations.     See  ESTABLISHMENT  FUND. 

Voluntary  Insurance.     See  MUTUAL  INSURANCE. 

Voluntary  Relief  Departments.     See  ESTABLISHMENT  FUND. 

Voluntary  Socialism.    See  STATE  SOCIALISM. 

Vorbereitender  Reichswirtschaftsrat  (Provisional  National 
Economic  Council).  See  REICHSWIRTSCHAFTSRAT. 

Voting  by  Card.  The  method  followed  by  the  BRITISH  LABOR 
PARTY  at  its  annual  and  special  conferences,  by  which  votes  on  im- 
portant questions  are  taken  according  to  cards  issued  by  the  Party 
on  the  following  basis:  Trade  unions  and  other  affiliated  societies 
receive  one  voting  card  for  each  1,000  members  or  fraction  thereof 
in  a  single  society;  affiliated  TRADES  COUNCILS  receive  one  voting 
card  each;  LOCAL  LABOR  PARTIES  receive  one  voting  card  for  each 
Parliamentary  constituency  within  a  party's  area;  central  labor 
parties  in  "divided  boroughs"  receive  one  voting  card  each.  Every 
card  entitles  the  body  holding  it  to  one  vote  on  any  question  before 
the  Party  conference.  (See  BLOCK  VOTE.) 


w 


W.  E.  A.    See  WORKERS'  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION. 
W.  I.  U.    See  WORKERS'  INDUSTRIAL  UNION. 
Wage  Bill.    See  PRICE  LIST. 

Wage  Boards.  Joint  bodies  appointed  to  establish  and  regu- 
late MINIMUM  WAGE  and  other  wage  rates,  either  for  all  the  industries 
of  a  particular  geographical  area  or  for  a  single  industry.  They  are 
usually  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  employers'  and  employees' 
representatives,  together  with  an  IMPARTIAL  CHAIRMAN  or  one  or  more 
"neutral"  representatives.  In  some  cases  wage  boards  have  juris- 
diction also  over  hours  of  labor,  general  working  conditions,  etc.  In 
Great  Britain  particularly,  wage  boards  (or  "wages  boards,"  as  they 
are  called  in  that  country)  are  an  important  part  of  the  machinery 
of  industrial  CONCILIATION  and  ARBITRATION.  Here  the  organization 
of  such  boards,  which  are  mainly  of  a  local  character,  is  very  generally 
established  by  permanent  written  agreement  or  constitution,  while 
in  the  United  States  the  methods  of  organization  and  procedure  are 
usually  left  either  to  unwritten  custom  or  are  determined  by  the  an- 
nual agreements  regarding  conditions  of  labor  themselves.  "Wages 
boards  are  to  be  distinguished  both  from  mere  occasional  meetings 
or  conferences  between  representatives  or  committees  of  employers 
and  employed  in  a  trade  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  wage  rates  or 
other  points  at  issue,  and  from  the  joint  committees  which  are  fre- 
quently constituted  in  trades  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  and  determin- 
ing in  a  judicial  manner  questions  arising  between  individual  em- 
ployers arid  those  whom  they  employ.  The  object  of  a  true  wages 
board  is  to  prevent  conflicts  by  means  of  periodical  and  organized 
meetings  of  representatives  of  employers  and  employed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discussing  and  revising  general  wage  rates  in  accordance 
with  the  changing  circumstances  of  the  time. .  .  Although  the  primary 
purpose  of  a  wages  board  is  the  regulation  of  wages,  it  may  also  be 
made  use  of  for  the  discussion  of  other  general  trade  questions,  and 
be,  as  it  were,  a  parliament  of  the  trade."  The  term  "wage  board," 

[546] 


or  "wage  committee,"  is  sometimes  used  in  designation  of  a  local 
body  of  trade  union  or  employees'  representatives,  or  of  both  workers' 
and  employers'  representatives,  appointed  to  formulate  or  make 
adjustments  in  the  wage  scale  for  a  particular  industry  or  plant. 
(See  TRADE  BOARDS;  VICTORIAN  WAGES  BOARD  SYSTEM;  MINIMUM 
WAGE  LAWS;  RAILROAD  LABOR  BOARD.) 

Wage  Committee.     See  WAGE  BOARDS. 

Wage  Deductions.  In  general,  these  fall  into  four  classes, 
as  follows:  (i)  Deductions  in  payment  of  fines;  (2)  deductions  as 
payment  for  damages;  (3)  deductions  for  use  of  tools  and  material; 
(4)  deductions  for  medical  and  other  BENEFITS.  Laws  governing  one 
or  several  of  the  various  forms  of  wage  deductions  exist  in  the  United 
States  and  some  other  countries.  (See  HOSPITAL-FEE  SYSTEM; 
COMPANY  DOCTOR;  CHECK-OFF  SYSTEM;  DOCKAGE  SYSTEM.) 

Wage  Differential.  A  difference  in  wage  levels  maintained 
for  different  groups  of  workmen  in  the  same  general  occupation.  Dur- 
ing the  recent  war,  for  instance,  there  existed  a  differential  between 
the  wages  of  machinists  in  shipyards  and  machinists  in  arsenals  and 
navy  yards. 

Wage  Earners.  In  arriving  at  the  proper  meaning  of  this 
term,  the  American  economist  Francis  A.  Walker  excludes  "first, 
the  employing  class ;  second,  all  who,  having  possession  of  the  agencies 
and  instruments  of  production,  whether  agricultural  or  mechanical, 
are  not  dependent  on  others  for  the  opportunity  to  produce;  third, 
those  who,  though  not  owning  land,  lease  it,  whether  under  the  pro- 
tection of  law  or  subject  to  all  the  hardships  of  competition.  These 
successive  exclusions  leave  us  the  employed  class,  whether  in  agri- 
culture or  manufactures.  From  this  we  further  exclude  all  who 
produce  on  shares,  and  all  who  are  paid  or  subsist  out  of  the  revenues 
of  their  employers.  We  have  left  the  wages  class  proper,  including 
all  persons  who  are  employed  in  production  with  a  view  to  the  profit 
of  their  employers,  and  are  paid  at  stipulated  rates." 

Wage  Exemption.  Under  the  laws  of  all  states  in  the  United 
States,  wages  are  exempt  in  various  amounts  from  attachment,  exe- 
cution, and  GARNISHMENT  for  the  payment  of  debts.  This  exemption 
applies  also  to  the  house  and  tools  of  a  wage-earner.  In  order  to 
make  these  laws  effective  for  their  purpose,  the  assignment  of  un- 
earned wages  on  the  part  of  a  laborer  is  either  forbidden  or  restricted 
in  various  ways. 

1547] 


Wage  Fund  Theory.  As  an  attempt  of  economists  to  solve 
the  problem  of  general  WAGES,  or  what  share  of  the  total  produce  of 
industry  goes  to  "labor,"  this  theory  may  be  summarized  in  three 
propositions,  as  follows:  (i)  In  any  country  at  any  time  there  is  a 
determinate  amount  of  capital  unconditionally  destined  for  the 
payment  of  labor.  This  is  the  wage  fund.  (2)  There  is  also  a  deter- 
minate number  of  laborers  who  must  work  independently  of  the 
rate  of  wages — that  is,  whether  the  rate  is  high  or  low.  (3)  The  wage 
fund  is  distributed  among  the  laborers  solely  by  means  of  competi- 
tion, employers  competing  with  one  another  for  labor,  and  laborers 
with  one  another  for  work;  and  thus  the  average  rate  of  wages  de- 
pends on  the  proportion  between  the  wage  fund  and  population. 
"There  is  supposed  to  be,"  wrote  J.  S.  Mill,  "at  any  given  instant  a 
sum  of  wealth  which  is  unconditionally  devoted  to  the  payment  of 
wages  of  labor.  This  sum  is  not  regarded  as  unalterable,  for  it  is 
augmented  by  saving  and  increases  with  the  progress  of  society;  but 
it  is  reasoned  upon  as  at  any  given  moment  a  predetermined  amount. 
More  than  that  amount  it  is  assumed  that  the  wage-receiving  class 
cannot  possibly  divide  among  them;  that  amount  and  no  less  they 
cannot  but  obtain.  So  that  the  sum  to  be  divided  being  fixed,  the 
wages  of  each  depend  solely  on  the  divisor,  the  number  of  partici- 
pants." If  this  theory,  as  thus  summarized,  be  accepted,  it  follows 
that  wages  can  only  rise  either  through  an  increase  of  capital  or 
through  a  decrease  of  population.  Hence,  also,  according  to  this 
theory,  all  combinations  of  labor  are  useless,  since  if  one  group  of 
workers  obtains  more  than  the  average  rate  of  wages  another  group 
will  have  to  take  less.  Although  now  rather  completely  abandoned 
by  economic  authorities,  the  wage  fund  theory  still  lingers  in  the 
public  mind,  and  lies  at  the  root  of  much  of  the  uninformed  middle- 
class  hostility  to  trade  unions.  (See  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES;  MALTHU- 
SIANISM;  PRODUCTIVITY  THEORY  OF  WAGES;  LUMP  OF  LABOR 
THEORY.) 

Wage  Laws.  Legislation,  either  state  or  national,  governing 
such  matters  as  the  time,  place,  basis,  and  medium  of  wage  payments, 
WAGE  DEDUCTIONS,  legal  procedure  for  the  collection  of  unpaid  wages, 
WAGE  EXEMPTION,  assignment  of  wages,  MECHANICS'  LIEN,  WAGE 
PREFERENCE,  etc.  (See  TIME  OF  WAGE  PAYMENT;  PLACE  OF  WAGE 
PAYMENT;  MINIMUM  WAGE  LAWS;  TRUCK  SYSTEM;  FAIR  WAGES 
CLAUSE;  REMUNERATION  OF  LABOR  IN  RUSSIA.) 

Wage  Payment  Methods.  Broadly  speaking,  in  G.  D.  H. 
Cole's  summary,  "there  are  two  possible  bases  of  payment  within 

[548] 


the  WAGE  SYSTEM — payment  for  time  worked  and  payment  for  out- 
put. There  are  indeed  all  kinds  of  modifications  and  minglings  of 
these  two  principles;  but  they  are  none  the  less  fundamentally  dis- 
tinct. A  worker  may  be  paid  in  strict  accordance  with  the  time 
spent  on  the  employer's  work  at  so  much  per  hour,  per  day,  per  week, 
per  month,  or  per  year;  or  he  or  she  may  be  paid  in  accordance  with 
the  work  done  at  so  much  per  piece,  or  per  unit  of  effort.  Again,  the 
method  of  payment  may  be  either  individual  or  collective:  the  em- 
ployer may  deal  separately  with,  and  pay  wages  by  time  or  output 
to,  every  worker  individually,  or  a  lump  sum  may  be  paid  over  to  a 
single  worker  on  behalf  of  a  group,  or  to  the  group  itself.  These 
two  systems  are,  I  have  said,  in  principle  distinct,  however  they  may 
mingle  in  practice.  But,  to  a  very  great  extent,  they  do  possess  a 
common  basis.  A  time-work  system  is  never  wholly  without  relation 
to  output;  for  the  employer  inevitably  expects  a  certain  amount  of 
work  from  the  worker  whom  he  employs,  and  if  this  amount  is  not 
forthcoming,  he  finds  his  remedy  in  discharging  the  worker.  Pay- 
ment by  output,  again,  is  never  wholly  without  relation  to  a  time 
standard;  for  piece-prices  are  invariably  determined  to  a  great  extent 
by  the  income  which  constitutes  the  normal  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  for 
the  workmen  concerned.  This,  however,  is  only  to  say  that  both  time- 
workers  and  piece-workers  are  subject  to  the  wage  system."  (See 
TIME  WORK;  PIECE  WORK;  TASK  WORK;  BONUS  SYSTEM;  PRE- 
MIUM BONUS  SYSTEM;  TRUCK  SYSTEM;  SLIDING  SCALE;  STRAIGHT 
PAY;  PAYMENT  BY  RESULTS;  COLLECTIVE  CONTRACT;  together 
with  the  various  cross  references  under  these  headings.) 

Wage  Preference  or  Wage  Priority.  The  principle,  specifically 
recognized  in  various  state  and  national  laws,  that  in  cases  of  assign- 
ments, administrations,  and  receiverships  due  to  death  or  bankruptcy, 
the  wages  of  employees,  up  to  a  specified  sum  and  for  work  done 
within  a  specified  period,  shall  have  either  absolute  preference  or 
priority  over  all  other  claims  or  (as  in  some  states)  over  all  claims 
other  than  those  for  fees,  costs,  and  taxes. 

Wage  Scale.     See  SCALE. 

Wage  Slavery.  A  term  sometimes  applied  to  the  present 
industrial  organization  of  society,  under  which  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  depend  for  their  subsistence  upon  WAGES  allotted  them  by  a 
comparatively  small  group,  the  holders  of  capital,  who  own  and  con- 
trol the  means  of  production.  (See  CAPITALISM;  EXPLOITATION; 
PROFITS  SYSTEM;  WAGE  SYSTEM.) 
36  I  549  1 


Wage  System.  Defined  by  G.  D.  H.  Cole  as  "the  system 
under  which  the  worker  sells  his  labor  to  an  employer  in  return  for 
a  wage,  and  by  this  sale  is  supposed  to  forego  all  right  over  the 
manner  in  which  his  labor  is  used  within  the  terms  of  the  wage- 
contract,  all  right  to  exercise  control  over  the  management  of  the 
industry  or  service  in  which  he  is  engaged,  and  all  claim  to  the  produce 
of  his  labor  or  to  the  common  product  of  the  labor  of  himself  and  his 
fellow-workers."  A  briefer  definition  is  that  by  Professor  Fetter: 
"The  organization  of  industry  wherein  some  men,  owning  and  direct- 
ing capital,  buy  at  their  competitive  value  the  services  of  men  with- 
out capital."  As  SERFDOM  gradually  succeeded  SLAVERY,  so  the  wage 
system  gradually  succeeded  serfdom.  Underlying  practically  every 
phase  of  the  LABOR  PROBLEM  is  this  system  "which  casts  upon  the 
laborer  the  responsibility  for  his  own  maintenance,  which  makes 
him  merchant  as  well  as  producer,  and  compels  him  to  take  his  chances 
and  stake  his  welfare  upon  successful  bargaining  in  the  LABOR  MAR- 
KET." (See  CAPITALISM;  NATIONAL  ECONOMY;  WAGE  SLAVERY.) 

Wages.  In  an  economic  sense,  the  remuneration  of  labor  of 
any  kind,  whether  manual  or  mental,  and  of  any  degree  of  skill. 
As  commonly  understood,  however,  the  term  is  restricted  in  meaning 
to  "the  reward  of  those  who  are  employed  in  production,  with  a  view 
to  the  profit  of  their  employers,  and  are  paid  at  stipulated  rates." 
The  economic  problem  of  wages  is  generally  discussed  under  two 
main  heads:  (i)  General  wages,  or  the  share  of  the  total  product 
of  industry  that  goes  to  labor;  and  (2)  relative  wages,  or  the  differences 
of  wages  in  different  occupations.  Owing  to  variations  in  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  money  at  different  times  and  in  different  places, 
a  very  definite  distinction  is  made  between  nominal  or  "money" 
wages,  the  amount  of  money  a  worker  receives  for  his  labor,  and 
real  or  "commodity"  wages,  the  amount  of  commodities  and  services 
that  the  money  received  will  actually  purchase  at  a  given  time. 
When  a  rise  in  nominal  wages  is  accompanied  by  a  steeper  rise  in  the 
COST  OF  LIVING,  real  wages  actually  fall,  or  vice  versa.  There  should 
also  be  kept  in  mind  the  distinction  between  wages,  the  concern  of 
the  worker,  and  the  value  of  labor  or  labor  cost,  the  concern  of  the 
employer;  these  two  things  being  by  no  means  synonymous.  High 
wages  do  not  necessarily  mean  a  high  labor  cost  or  an  increased  cost 
of  production,  if  the  amount  or  quality  of  the  services  rendered  in 
return  is  proportionately  increased  or  improved.  High  wages  may 
thus  mean  "cheap  labor,"  and  low  wages  "dear  labor."  It  is  impos- 
sible, in  brief  space,  to  go  into  a  discussion  of  the  various  factors 

[5So] 


and  theories  which  have  to  do  with  the  determination  of  wages. 
In  general,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  the  commonest  tendency 
in  the  industrial  field  as  a  whole  is  toward  some  approximate  agree- 
ment between  daily  wage-levels  and  the  current  cost  of  living — in 
other  words,  toward  an  equalization  of  real  wages  and  nominal 
wages.  Ordinarily  there  is  a  rough  conformity  between  the  two, 
depending  largely  upon  the  varying  conditions  of  prosperity  and 
depression,  but  the  fluctuations  of  prices  are  more  extreme  and  sud- 
den than  those  of  wages.  Wages  follow  at  a  considerable  interval 
the  rise  and  fall  of  prices.  When  prices  rise  as  a  result  of  prosperity, 
a  considerable  proportion  of  the  succeeding  rise  in  wages  is  counter- 
acted by  the  increased  cost  of  living;  and  when  prices  fall  as  a  result 
of  depression,  the  laborer  does  not  enjoy  all  the  fruits  of  low  prices 
on  account  of  the  resulting  lack  of  employment.  It  must  be  noted 
also  that  changes  in  the  daily  rates  of  wages  are  by  no  means  a  cri- 
terion of  changes  in  the  relative  condition  of  the  workers.  More 
important  than  daily  rates  are  the  annual  earnings.  Annual  earn- 
ings depend  both  on  the  daily  rate  and  on  the  amount  of  employment 
throughout  the  year.  Again,  not  even  do  annual  earnings  represent 
accurately  the  changing  conditions  of  wage-earners.  Perhaps  the 
most  significant  feature  of  modern  industry  is  the  increasing  intensity 
of  exertion,  owing  to  the  introduction  of  machinery  and  minute 
DIVISION  OF  LABOR.  Where  formerly  the  workingman  could  change 
from  one  operation  to  another,  he  now  is  commonly  limited  to  a 
very  small  operation  in  a  large  series.  He  acquires  intense  speed, 
and  the  force  of  competition  compels  employers  to  select  only  those 
who  excel  in  physical  vigor.  The  result  is  that  the  trade  life  of  the 
workingman  has  been  reduced  in  many  industries.  Plainly,  if  the 
increased  exertion  of  the  wage-earner  shortens  his  period  of  earnings, 
there  ought  to  be  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  daily  rates  of  wages 
in  order  that  he  may  retain  throughout  his  life  his  original  STANDARD 
OF  LIVING.  Finally  it  should  be  noted  that  money  wages  in  cities 
must  be  considerably  higher  than  money  wages  in  the  country, 
in  order  that  the  same  standard  of  living  may  be  maintained;  and 
wages  in  growing  cities  must  rise  much  more  rapidly  than  country 
or  village  wages,  in  order  that  the  condition  of  the  workingmcn  may 
run  a  parallel  course  of  improvement.  Taking  into  account  these 
observations,  it  must  be  concluded  that  the  daily  rate  of  wages  is 
not  a  safe  measure  of  the  changing  conditions  of  'abor,  and  that  in 
a  discussion  of  the  progress  of  the  working  population  account 
must  be  taken  of  the  amount  of  annual  employment,  depending  ofi 
general  conditions  of  prosperity  and  depression,  the  life-earnings  of 

[SSI] 


the  worker,  depending  upon  the  increasing  intensity  of  exertion  and 
OVERWORK,  and  the  increased  necessary  expenses  of  city  life.  (For 
explanations  of  the  three  principal  economic  theories  of  wages, 
see  IRON  LAW  OF  WAGES,  WAGE  FUND  THEORY,  and  PRODUCTIVITY 
THEORY.  For  other  main  references  under  this  head,  see  WAGE 
SYSTEM;  LIVING  WAGE;  MINIMUM  WAGE;  FAMILY  WAGE;  FAIR 
WAGE;  STEWARD'S  THEORY  OF  WAGES;  EXCHANGE  THEORY  OP 
WAGES;  SURPLUS  VALUE  THEORY;  WAGE  PAYMENT  METHODS.) 

Wages  Boards.     See  WAGE  BOARDS. 
Waiting  List.     See  REGISTRY  SYSTEM. 

Waiting  Period.  Under  nearly  all  systems  of  WORKMEN'S 
COMPENSATION  and  other  forms  of  SOCIAL  INSURANCE,  the  payment 
of  BENEFITS  or  compensation  does  not  begin  until  a  period  of  from, 
one  to  several  days  after  an  accident  occurs,  an  illness  develops,  etc. 
This  intervening  time  is  commonly  known  as  the  "waiting  period," 
and  its  chief  object  is  to  prevent  or  discourage  MALINGERING. 

Walker.  The  foreman  of  a  LABOR  CAMP  is  commonly  nicknamed 
"the  walker." 

Walking  Delegate.  A  nearly  obsolete  term,  originally  applied 
to  the  representative  of  a  trade  union  who  was  directed  to  visit  the 
employers'  establishments  and  see  that  union  conditions  prevailed. 
The  modern  equivalent  of  the  walking  delegate  is  the  BUSINESS 
AGENT  or  STEWARD,  who  has  many  highly  important  duties.  (See 
ORGANIZER.) 

Walking  Time.  In  the  British  building  trades  this  is  an 
extra  payment,  usually  stipulated  in  the  WORKING  RULES,  made  to 
men  who  have  to  walk  more  than  a  certain  distance  to  and  from  their 
work. 

Walkout.  A  STRIKE  is  commonly  so  called  in  the  United 
States.  (See  TURNOUT.) 

War  Chest.     See  STRIKE  FUND. 

War  Labor  Board.     See  NATIONAL  WAR  LABOR  BOARD. 

War  Labor  Policies  Board.  A  Federal  war-time  agency  organ- 
ized in  June,  1918,  to  reconcile  interdepartmental  differences  as  to 
administration  with  reference  to  labor  matters  and  to  recommend  to 
the  SECRETARY  OF  LABOR  unified  labor  policies  for  harmonizing  the 

1552J 


industrial  activities  of  separate  branches  of  the  government.  Al- 
though it  was  created  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor  and  operated  under 
his  direction,  it  included  representatives  of  the  War  Department,  the 
Navy  Department,  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  United 
States  Shipping  Board,  the  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation,  the  Fuel 
Administration,  the  Food  Administration,  the  Railroad  Administra- 
tion, and  the  War  Industries  Board,  as  well  as  the  Department  of 
Labor.  This  body  should  not  be  confused  with  the  NATIONAL  WAR 
LABOR  BOARD. 

Watch  Committee  or  Vigilance  Committee.  In  England,  a 
committee  made  up  of  all  the  SHOP  STEWARDS  in  a  single  large  indus- 
trial works  is  sometimes  so  called.  (See  CONVENER.) 

Watching  or  Besetting.    See  TRADE  DISPUTES  ACT. 

Waterside  Workers.  As  used  in  England,  this  term  designates 
a  class  of  workers  which  includes,  broadly  speaking,  the  men  employed 
in  loading,  bunkering,  and  discharging  all  kinds  of  craft,  men  em- 
ployed in  conveying  goods  from  ship  to  warehouse  and  from  ware- 
house to  ship,  and  any  other  labor  immediately  attendant  upon  this 
sort  of  work.  (See  TRANSPORT  WORKERS;  DOCKERS;  STRAPPERS.) 

Week  Work.  The  system  of  wage  payment  under  which  the 
worker  receives  a  specified  sum  for  a  working  week  consisting  of  a 
specified  number  of  hours.  The  term  "week  work"  is  often  used  as 
a  general  synonym  for  TIME  WORK.  (See  FORTY  HOUR  WEEK  ;  FORTY- 
FOUR  HOUR  WEEK;  FORTY-EIGHT  HOUR  WEEK;  ENGLISH  WEEK; 
STAB  WORK;  NORMAL  DAY.) 

Weekly  Rest.     See  ONE  DAY'S  REST  IN  SEVEN. 

Weighted  Index  Numbers.  In  computing  the  relative  fluc- 
tuations of  commodity  prices  by  means  of  INDEX  NUMBERS,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  take  into  account  the  fact  that  some  standard  commodities 
are  regularly  consumed  in  much  greater  quantities  than  others. 
Hence  the  practice  has  been  largely  adopted  of  "weighting"  the 
figures  which  go  to  make  up  the  index  number  according  to  some 
scale  of  relative  importance.  If  there  were  in  a  room  a  number  of 
men  just  five  feet  high  and  a  number  just  six  feet  high,  one  would  not 
find  out  the  average  height  by  adding  five  and  six  and  dividing  by 
two;  one  would  find  how  many  there  were  of  each  height,  multiply 
the  heights  by  the  respective  number  of  men,  and  divide  by  the 
total  number.  Similarly,  it  is  easy  to  multiply  the  figure  representing 
price  by  a  number  or  "weight"  representing  its  relative  importance, 

[553] 


and  divide  the  total  of  all  the  figures  thus  multiplied  by  the  sum  of 
the  weights.  The  most  suitable  weights  in  such  a  case  as  prices 
would  seem  to  be  the  proportions  in  which  the  several  articles  enter 
into  consumption. 

Weir  Plan.  An  adaptation  of  the  PREMIUM  BONUS  SYSTEM, 
devised  by  a  Glasgow  firm  of  manufacturers,  which  is  similar  in  nearly 
all  essentials  with  the  HALSEY  PLAN.  The  worker  receives  his  hourly 
rate  of  wages  on  one-half  of  the  time  saved  under  the  standard 
allowance. 

Welfare  Committee.  In  England,  a  body  representing  as  a 
rule  all  the  workers  in  a  single  industrial  establishment,  which  deals 
with  matters  that  affect  the  comfort  and  physical  well-being  of  the 
workman  while  engaged  at  his  occupation — ventilation,  sanitation, 
safety,  etc.  Such  committees  sometimes  exercise  control,  also,  over 
the  social  and  recreational  concerns  of  the  worker;  although  these 
are  often  handled  by  a  separate  body,  known  as  a  SOCIAL  UNION. 

Welfare  Manager.     See  WELFARE  WORK. 
Welfare  Secretary.     See  WELFARE  WORK. 

Welfare  Supervision.  The  common  British  equivalent  for 
what  is  known  in  this  country  as  WELFARE  WORK.  In  the  larger 
industrial  plants,  welfare  supervision  is  the  function  of  a  special 
official  called  a  "welfare  supervisor,"  "welfare  worker"  or  "social 
secretary,"  who  (according  to  a  British  government  bulletin)  "has 
general  charge  of  the  working  conditions  that  make  for  efficiency 
and  well-being  of  factory  and  office  employees.  The  duties  include 
the  oversight  of  hospitals,  lunch  rooms,  wash  rooms,  libraries,  housing 
conditions,  etc.,  and  often  require  visits  to  the  homes  of  the  workers. 
The  welfare  supervisor  must  have  a  knowledge  of  INDUSTRIAL  HY- 
GIENE, housing,  education,  club  activities,  and  the  general  industrial 
environment."  In  some  plants  the  welfare  supervisor  also  performs 
most  of  the  functions  commonly  assigned  to  an  EMPLOYMENT  MAN- 
AGER in  the  United  States.  (See  WELFARE  COMMITTEE.) 

Welfare  Supervisor.     See  WELFARE  SUPERVISION. 

Welfare  Work.  A  general  term  applied  to  various  kinds  of 
voluntary  effort  on  the  part  of  employers  "to  improve,  within  the 
existing  industrial  system,  the  conditions  of  employment  in  their 
own  establishments."  It  has  been  defined  as  including  "all  of  those 
services  which  an  employer  may  render  to  his  work  people  over  and 

[554] 


above  the  payment  of  wages."  More  specifically,  it  may  include  the 
provision  of  any  or  all  of  the  following  facilities  or  services:  Wash 
rooms,  rest  rooms,  lunch  rooms,  library,  gymnasium,  swimming  pool, 
hospital  and  dispensary  service,  physical  examinations,  dental  treat- 
ment, banking  and  loan  service,  housing,  educational  classes,  play- 
grounds and  other  recreational  facilities,  music,  lectures,  and  other 
entertainments.  Properly  speaking,  welfare  work  is  one  of  the  two 
main  fields  or  departments  of  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRATION.  In  some 
large  plants  it  is  placed  in  direct  charge  of  the  PERSONNEL  MANAGER; 
but  more  often,  perhaps,  it  is  organized  and  managed  by  a  special 
official  known  as  a  "welfare  manager"  or  "welfare  secretary,"  who 
in  some  cases  performs  the  duties  of  an  EMPLOYMENT  MANAGER  as 
well.  Occasionally  the  term  "service  department"  is  used  in  desig- 
nation of  the  section  devoted  to  welfare  work,  and  the  official  in 
charge  is  called  the  "service  director"  or  "service  worker."  Many 
trade  unionists  are  distinctly  hostile  to  welfare  work  ("helfare  work" 
they  often  call  it),  regarding  it  as  a  form  of  PATERNALISM  and  an  at- 
tempt to  substitute  charity  for  justice  in  industrial  relations.  By 
others  it  is  considered  an  attenuated  and  indirect  form  of  PROFIT 
SHARING.  (See  WELFARE  SUPERVISION;  COMPANY  HOUSING.) 

Welfare  Worker.     See  WELFARE  SUPERVISION. 

Western  Labor  Union.  See  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE 
WORLD. 

White.  In  connection  with  political  affairs  in  contemporary 
Europe,  this  color  is  commonly  associated  with  anti-democratic,  anti- 
labor,  or  other  reactionary  movements,  persons,  etc.  Thus  we  hear 
of  the  "white  terror"  in  Hungary,  the  "white  government"  in  Fin- 
land, the  "white  army"  in  Russia,  etc.  On  the  industrial  side,  the 
Catholic  organizations  in  some  countries — e.g.,  Italy — are  dubbed 
"white"  by  the  more  radical  elements.  (See  WHITE  UNIONS.) 

White -Collar  Scabs.  A  term  sometimes  used  by  manual 
wage-earners  in  designation  of  clerks,  college  students,  and  other  so- 
called  "brain  workers"  who  volunteer  to  take  the  places  of  men  out 
on  strike.  (See  GOLDEN  SCABS.) 

White  Collars.  In  American  labor  slang,  the  equivalent  of 
the  British  term  BLACKCOATS — that  is  to  say,  middle-class  salaried 
workers,  as  distinguished  from  manual  wage-earners. 

White  Strike.     See  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB. 


White  Unions.  In  the  Italian  labor  movement,  the  Unioni 
Cattoliche  or  Catholic  unions  are  commonly  called  "white  unions" 
by  members  of  the  socialist  and  syndicalist  organizations.  They 
are  made  up  mainly  of  agricultural  workers,  and  are  nationally 
federated  in  the  CONFEDERAZIONE  ITALIANA  DEI  LAVORATORI. 

Whitelist.  A  negative  form  of  the  BLACKLIST,  corresponding 
on  the  employer's  side  to  the  trade  union  FAIR  LIST.  In  its  simplest 
form,  it  is  a  list  of  workers  in  a  specified  city  or  district  who  are  in 
favor  with  employers  and  who  are  given  first  choice  on  available 
jobs.  As  elaborated  by  some  of  the  more  radical  EMPLOYERS'  ASSO- 
CIATIONS, it  often  takes  the  form  of  a  central  card  index,  giving  the 
"record"  of  practically  every  skilled  worker  in  the  particular  indus- 
try involved,  compiled  from  information  supplied  by  the  individual 
members  of  the  association.  Such  an  index  is  in  reality  both  a  white- 
list  and  a  blacklist  in  combination.  "Other  members  of  the  asso- 
ciation who  desire  to  put  on  extra  hands  send  to  the  headquarters 
for  a  list  of  eligibles,  or  get  a  statement  of  the  history  and  character 
of  any  applicant  for  work  who  has  ever  been  employed  in  the  same 
town ;  and  the  association  is  thus  enabled  to  weed  out  '  troublesome ' 
workmen  by  simply  refusing  to  recommend  them,  or  by  merely 
stating  what  is  known  of  their  past  careers." 

Whitley  Councils.     See  WHITLEY  PLAN. 

Whitley  Plan.  In  1916  the  British  Ministry  of  Reconstruc- 
tion appointed  a  Committee,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Sir  Charles 
Whitley,  to  investigate  the  problem  of  industrial  relations  between 
employers  and  employed  and  to  make  recommendations  looking 
toward  a  more  harmonious  and  equitable  adjustment  of  such  rela- 
tions. In  March,  1917,  the  Committee  issued  its  first  report,  which 
proposed  "the  establishment  for  each  industry  of  an  organization, 
representative  of  employers  and  workpeople,  to  have  as  its  object 
the  regular  consideration  of  matters  affecting  the  progress  and  well- 
being  of  the  trade  from  the  point  of  view  of  all  those  engaged  in  it, 
so  far  as  this  is  consistent  with  the  general  interest  of  the  community." 
More  specifically,  the  Committee  recommended  the  formation  of 
"joint  standing  industrial  councils"  (now  often  called  "Whitley 
councils")  in  each  trade  or  industry,  organized  by  individual  work- 
shops, by  districts,  and  nationally,  as  follows:  (i)  WORKS  COMMITTEES, 
representative  of  the  management  and  of  the  workers  in  particular 
workshops  or  industrial  establishments;  (2)  DISTRICT  COUNCILS, 
representative  of  the  trade  unions  and  of  the  employers'  associations 

[556] 


of  particular  industries  in  particular  districts  or  local  areas;  (3) 
NATIONAL  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS,  representative  of  the  trade  unions 
and  of  the  employers'  associations  in  particular  industries  for  the 
entire  country.  This  triple  organization  is  intended  to  function 
according  to  a  common  principle  and  on  lines  of  close  common 
action.  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS  under  the  Whitley  plan  have 
now  been  established,  on  either  an  "interim"  or  a  permanent  basis, 
in  some  fifty  major  British  industries.  The  general  attitude  of  or- 
ganized labor  to  the  Whitley  plan  is  well  indicated  in  the  following 
memorandum,  signed  by  five  members  of  the  original  Whitley  Com- 
mittee: "While  recognizing  that  the  more  amicable  relations  thus 
established  between  capital  and  labor  will  afford  an  atmosphere 
generally  favorable  to  industrial  peace  and  progress,  we  desire  to 
express  our  views  that  a  complete  identity  of  interests  between 
capital  and  labor  cannot  be  thus  effected,  and  that  such  machinery 
cannot  be  expected  to  furnish  a  settlement  for  the  more  serious  con- 
flicts of  interest  involved  in  the  working  of  an  economic  system 
primarily  governed  and  directed  by  motives  of  private  profit."  (See 
GARTON  FOUNDATION  REPORT;  INTERIM  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUC- 
TION COMMITTEES;  WHITLEYISM.) 

Whitleyism.  The  system  of  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS 
under  the  WHITLEY  PLAN  is  sometimes  thus  designated,  particularly 
by  those  who  are  opposed  to  the  plan. 

Wholesale  Cooperative  Societies.  In  nearly  all  countries 
where  CONSUMERS'  COOPERATION  has  made  marked  progress,  central 
wholesale  societies  have  been  organized  by  the  retail  cooperative 
associations  for  the  purpose  of  doing  away,  in  the  interests  of  their 
members,  with  the  profits  of  the  "outside"  wholesale  trade.  As 
perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  example,  the  British  Cooperative 
Wholesale  Society  is  a  trading  federation  of  the  great  majority  of 
English  cooperative  retail  stores,  acting  as  the  central  agency  from 
which  they  secure  their  supplies.  Started  on  a  modest  scale  in  1863, 
this  society  now  has  an  immense  capital  and  many  thousands  of 
employees.  In  addition  to  its  purchases  in  open  market,  it  carries 
on  a  large  manufacturing  and  producing  trade.  It  owns  factories, 
mills,  warehouses,  mines,  and  land  in  various  parts  of  Great  Britain, 
tea  plantations  abroad,  and  the  ships  and  wharfage  by  which  its 
import  trade  is  carried  on.  It  is  also  the  bank  of  the  British  cooper- 
ative societies.  Net  profits  are  returned  to  the  individual  retail 
societies  as  a  dividend  on  purchases,  and  thence  to  the  whole  body  of 
members.  The  English  type  of  wholesale  society  is  a  federation  of 

[557] 


independent  retail  societies,  each  remaining  independent  and  in  full 
control  of  its  internal  affairs  and,  through  its  delegates,  of  those  of 
the  wholesale  society.  Under  the  plan  usually  adopted  in  America, 
the  wholesale  society  controls  not  only  the  wholesale  but,  in  greater 
or  less  degree,  the  constituent  societies,  often  delegating  to  them  a 
large  measure  of  local  autonomy  but  retaining  final  control  over 
them. 

Widows'  and  Orphans'  Insurance.  A  form  of  SOCIAL  INSUR- 
ANCE that  provides  for  the  surviving  dependents  of  deceased  indus- 
trial workers.  This  form  has  been  most  highly  developed  in  the  state 
insurance  systems  of  Germany  and  France.  (See  MOTHERS'  PEN- 
SIONS.) 

Wildcat  Strike.     See  INDEPENDENT  STRIKE. 

Wisconsin  Apprenticeship  System.  Under  a  law  passed  by 
the  Wisconsin  state  legislature  in  1915,  all  minors  learning  any  trade, 
craft,  or  business  who  receive  instruction  as  part  of  their  wages 
must  be  under  written  contract  and  the  contract  approved  by  the 
state.  This  is  to  prevent  employers  from  claiming  APPRENTICESHIP 
for  boys  who  really  do  nothing  but  COMMON  LABOR.  These  appren- 
tices are  required  to  take  four  hours  instruction  in  a  school  each 
week,  on  the  theory  of  trade.  A  special  Supervisor  of  Apprentice- 
ship, who  sees  to  the  enforcement  of  these  provisions,  is  attached  to 
the  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION. 

Withdrawal  Card.  In  most  American  trade  unions,  when  a 
member  in  good  standing  retires  from  a  local  branch  to  become  a, 
foreman,  to  set  up  in  business  for  himself,  or  to  engage  in  some  other 
trade,  he  is  generally  given  a  "withdrawal  card"  (also  called  "re- 
tiring card"  and  "honorary  card")  which  is  valid  during  the  "good 
conduct"  of  the  person  receiving  it  and  entitles  him  to  certain  privi- 
leges should  he  enter  a  new  union  or  reenter  his  old  one. 

Wob.    See  WOBBLY. 

Wobbly.  The  nickname  by  which  members  of  the  INDUSTRIAL 
WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD  are  most  commonly  known,  particularly 
in  the  West.  It  is  said  to  have  originated  with  Harrison  Grey  Otis, 
editor  of  the  Los  Angeles  "Times."  Frequently  a  shortened  form, 
"wob,"  is  used  in  the  same  sense.  The  term  "wobblyism"  is  some- 
times applied  to  the  I.  W.  W.  philosophy  as  a  whole.  (See  WOBBLY 
HALLS.) 


Wobbly  Halls.  The  local  headquarters  and  meeting  places 
of  the  I.  W.  W.  organization  are  so  nicknamed.  (See  WOBBLY.) 

Wobbly  ism.     See  WOBBLY. 

Woman  in  Industry.  As  in  the  case  of  CHILD  LABOR,  the 
later  stages  of  the  INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION  and  the  introduction  of 
the  FACTORY  SYSTEM  led  to  the  employment  of  women  on  a  large  scale 
in  industrial  work,  at  wages  and  under  conditions  that  often  resulted 
in  brutal  degradation.  But  the  worst  evils  in  this  connection  have 
gradually  been  eliminated  or  at  least  mitigated  by  the  passage  of 
laws  in  nearly  all  countries  regulating  the  hours,  wages,  working  con- 
ditions, etc.,  for  women  "gainfully  employed."  Such  laws,  particu- 
larly the  various  state  enactments  in  this  country,  are  still  far  from 
adequate.  According  to  Commons  and  Andrews,  "the  working- 
woman's  theoretical  FREEDOM  OF  CONTRACT  to  dispose  of  her  labor 
under  whatever  conditions  she  pleases  has  been  restricted  by  the  state 
through  its  POLICE  POWER.  Such  a  limitation  is  rightfully  applied 
to  women  workers  as  a  class,  because  as  workers  they  do  not  stand 
on  equal  footing  with  their  employers  in  bargaining  and  because  as 
women  their  health  is  more  quickly  injured  by  excessive  hours  of 
work.  Furthermore,  the  community  suffers  if  the  health  of  any 
large  number  of  women  is  endangered,  for  on  the  health  of  women 
depends  the  vigor  of  the  race.  The  reasonableness  of  the  range  of 
employments  included  in  the  laws  has  been  affirmed,  and  hours  may 
how  be  limited  to  as  few  as  eight  in  daytime  work."  The  chief  social 
or  economic  evils  accompanying  woman  labor  have  been  briefly  sum- 
marized as  follows:  "First  is  the  employment  of  married  women, 
which  usually  means  the  neglect  of  the  home,  if  not  of  young  children. 
Second,  is  the  low,  and  often  wholly  inadequate,  rate  of  remunera- 
tion. Partially  dependent  upon  this,  but  introducing  also  serious 
economic  consequences,  is  the  competition  of  women  with  men, 
which  means  in  many  instances  the  underbidding  of  laborers  with  a 
high  standard  of  life  by  laborers  with  a  low  standard  of  life,  and 
which  tends  constantly  to  lower  the  plane  of  competition."  The 
Report  of  the  FEDERAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMISSION  says:  "It  seems  to 
be  unanimously  admitted  that,  barring  a  few  exceptional  cases,  the 
wages  paid  to  women  are  lower  than  the  wages  paid  to  men  for  similar 
work.  The  existence  of  such  a  state  of  affairs  is  a  disadvantage  to 
both  men  and  women;  a  disadvantage  to  men  because  the  competi- 
tion of  women  in  present  circumstances  tends  to  reduce  the  wages  of 
men,  and  a  disadvantage  to  women  because  it  results  in  their  not 
receiving  fair  compensation  for  labor  performed."  According  to  fig- 

lS59l 


ures  recently  quoted  by  the  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR, 
the  employment  of  women  in  industry  has  increased  fifty  per  cent 
since  the  beginning  of  the  World  War,  and  one  in  ten  of  all  persons 
now  "gainfully  occupied"  is  a  woman.  (See  HOME  WORK;  PARA- 
SITIC INDUSTRIES;  DOMESTIC  SERVICE;  WOMEN'S  BUREAU;  INTER- 
NATIONAL CONGRESS  OF  WORKING  WOMEN;  NIGHT  WORK;  HOUR 
LAWS;  PROHIBITED  EMPLOYMENTS;  FACTORY  AND  WORKSHOP  ACTS ; 
FAMILY  WAGE;  MINIMUM  WAGE  LAWS;  CONSUMERS'  LEAGUES; 
DILUTION  OF  LABOR;  PIN  MONEY  THEORY;  MEANTIME  WORKERS; 
EQUAL  PAY  FOR  EQUAL  WORK.) 

Woman  in  Industry  Service.     See  WOMEN'S  BUREAU. 

Woman's  Labor  League.  A  propagandist  organization,  on  a 
national  scale,  of  the  women  workers  of  Great  Britain,  now  consti- 
tuting the  women's  section  of  the  BRITISH  LABOR  PARTY.  Its  efforts 
are  devoted  to  obtaining  direct  representation  of  women  in  Parlia- 
ment and  local  government  bodies,  and  advocating  economic  equality 
of  the  sexes. 

Women's  Bureau.  Created  by  Congressional  enactment  of 
June,  1920,  as  a  statutory  integral  part  of  the  UNITED  STATES  DE- 
PARTMENT OF  LABOR.  A  similar  agency  had  been  organized  on  a 
temporary  basis  in  July,  1918,  as  the  "Woman  in  Industry  Service," 
for  the  purpose  of  developing  standards  and  policies  to  insure  the 
effective  employment  of  women  in  essential  war  industries,  while 
at  the  same  time  conserving  their  health  and  welfare;  and  after  the 
armistice  it  rendered  important  service  in  the  industrial  readjustment 
of  the  country.  This  agency  is  now  superseded  by  the  permanent 
Women's  Bureau,  the  duties  of  which,  as  stated  in  the  creating  act, 
are  "to  formulate  standards  and  policies  which  shall  promote  the 
welfare  of  wage-earning  women,  improve  their  working  conditions, 
increase  their  efficiency,  and  advance  their  opportunities  for  profitable 
employment."  The  Bureau  has  made  a  number  of  important  in- 
vestigations in  various  fields  of  women's  labor,  and  published  numer- 
ous reports,  pamphlets,  charts,  etc. 

Women's  International  Union  Label  League.  An  American 
organization,  formed  in  1899,  devoted  particularly  to  supporting  and 
extending  the  use  of  the  UNION  LABEL.  It  also  stands  for  the  en- 
couragement of  union-made  goods,  the  universal  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY, 
EQUAL  PAY  FOR  EQUAL  WORK,  early  closing  and  Sunday  closing,  and 
the  sustaining  of  FAIR  employers.  Its  membership  includes  not  only 
women  members  of  trade  unions,  but  the  wives  and  daughters  of 

I  56o] 


unionists  also.  The  League  works  in  close  cooperation  with  the 
AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR,  and  is  represented  in  the  annual 
conventions  of  the  Federation. 

Women's  Trade  Union  League  (British).  See  NATIONAL 
FEDERATION  OF  WOMEN  WORKERS. 

Women's  Trade  Union  League  of  America.  See  NATIONAL 
WOMEN'S  TRADE  UNION  LEAGUE  OF  AMERICA. 

Wop.  American  slang  for  an  Italian  of  the  common  laboring 
class.  (See  DAGO;  GINNY.) 

Work  Fund  Theory.    See  LUMP  OF  LABOR  THEORY. 

Work  Sharing.  As  a  palliative  for  UNEMPLOYMENT,  this  is 
the  process  of  distributing  all  available  work  as  equally  as  possible 
among  all  the  members  of  a  trade  during  a  slack  period.  Regula- 
tions in  regard  to  "work  sharing"  are  often  formulated  and  enforced 
by  trade  unions.  (See  TURN  LIST;  TURNWAY  SOCIETIES;  SHORT 
TIME;  LAY-OFF  SYSTEM.) 

Work -to -Rule  Movement.  As  developed  among  European 
workers,  the  railwaymen  in  particular,  this  is  an  organized  movement 
for  "slowing  down"  industrial  operations  by  adhering  to  the  strict 
letter  of  certain  safety  rules  and  regulations  of  employers  which,  in 
the  interests  of  speed,  are  usually  ignored — such,  for  instance,  as 
walking  around  the  entire  length  of  a  freight  train  instead  of  slipping 
through  between  cars.  It  is,  of  course,  a  mild  and  perfectly  legiti- 
mate form  of  SABOTAGE — one  of  the  many  variations  of  CA'  CANNY 
and  STRIKING  ON  THE  JOB — and  a  form  against  which  employers  are 
practically  defenceless. 

Workers'  College  of  Seattle.  An  organization  for  WORKING- 
CLASS  EDUCATION,  founded  in  1919  by  the  Central  Labor  Council  of 
Seattle.  Under  the  direction  of  an  educational  committee  of  seven, 
appointed  by  the  Council,  regular  courses  are  given  in  special  eco- 
nomic and  labor  subjects,  and  these  courses  are  supplemented  by  lec- 
tures, dramatic  work,  etc.  Nominal  fees  are  charged  for  some 
courses ;  the  other  activities  are  financed  by  voluntary  contributions 
and  assessments  on  the  local  unions. 

Workers'  Control.  Probably  no  other  term  in  the  entire 
labor  movement  is  so  variously  and  loosely  used  as  this,  and  certainly 
no  other  is  so  difficult  of  precise  definition.  At  the  outset,  however, 
much  confusion  will  be  avoided  by  limiting  the  word  "control"  to 

[561] 


its  precise  dictionary  meaning — i.e.,  the  power  or  means  of  direction, 
command,  authority,  restraint.  This  makes  it  possible  to  banish 
at  once  from  the  realm  of  workers'  control  such  "hyphenated" 
inhabitants  as  JOINT  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCILS,  SHOP  COMMITTEE  sys- 
tems, EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION  plans,  etc.  Such  experiments  as 
these,  whatever  their  other  merits  and  advantages,  obviously  do 
not  place  the  control  of  industry  in  the  worker's  hands.  Even  if 
workers'  control  be  interpreted  as  a  joint  rather  than  an  exclusive 
function,  it  necessarily  involves  participation  not  merely  in  the 
regulation  but  also  in  the  direction  of  industry.  In  the  larger  and 
only  legitimate  sense,  the  term  "workers'  control"  summarizes  a 
new  and  revolutionary  idea  that  has  gradually  come  to  the  forefront 
of  the  labor  movement  in  nearly  all  industrial  countries — the  idea 
of  a  gradual  shifting  of  industrial  power  from  the  employing  or 
capitalistic  class  to  the  working  or  employee  class.  The  demand 
which  it  embodies  or  represents  is,  according  to  G.  D.  H.  Cole,  "a 
demand  that  there  shall  be  a  transference  of  control  from  the  present 
rulers  of  the  economic  system  to  the  mass  of  the  industrial  workers, 
and  an  institution  of  democracy  in  industry  as  well  as  in  the  political 
sphere.  Secondly,  it  is  an  assertion  that  this  transference  must  be 
won  in  the  main  by  the  workers'  own  endeavors,  and  cannot  be  con- 
ceded from  without.  It  is  only  by  winning  their  own  emancipation 
by  their  own  efforts  that  the  working  classes  will  gain  the  power 
to  direct  industry  when  they  have  won  it.  In  the  third  place,  it  is 
in  effect  a  repudiation  of  those  claims  for  INDUSTRIAL  SELF-GOVERN- 
MENT which  seek  merely  to  entrench  the  existing  industrial  order 
by  admitting  the  organized  workers  through  the  present  Trade 
Union  leaders  to  a  limited  and  illusory  share  in  the  councils  of  indus- 
try, through  joint  bodies  representing  the  employers  and  the  working 
class.  It  does  not  necessarily  repudiate  joint  machinery;  but  it  does 
most  clearly  repudiate  the  idea  that  such  joint  machinery  can  be 
an  instrument  of  the  sort  of  control  which  it  desires  to  establish. 
In  the  fourth  place,  it  is  a  demand  by  the  workers  for  knowledge 
as  the  source  of  power — knowledge  of  their  position  in  the  indus- 
trial order,  and  knowledge  of  the  means  by  which  alone  they  can 
assume  executive  control."  Workers'  control,  in  this  large  sense, 
may  be  considered  the  main  objective  toward  which  the  present-day 
labor  movement  is  consciously  or  subconsciously  directed.  The 
paths  are  many  and  various,  but  the  goal  is  essentially  one.  At  the 
right  lies  the  path  of  SOCIALISM  or  (as  it  is  sometimes  called)  COL- 
LECTIVISM ;  at  the  left  is  the  path  of  SYNDICALISM  or  REVOLUTIONARY 
UNIONISM;  in  the  centre  lies  the  path  of  GUILD  SOCIALISM.  But 

[562] 


there  are  millions  of  wayfarers  who  follow  the  main  current  of  travel 
without  holding  to  any  beaten  path.  What  they  are  all  seeking, 
whether  vaguely  or  clearly,  is  "a  system  fundamentally  different 
from  the  capitalistic  system,  in  that  under  it  the  complete  control 
of  industry  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  workers  themselves, 
to  administer  as  a  trust  for  the  community."  (See  LABOR  PROBLEM; 
ENCROACHING  CONTROL;  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY;  WORKERS'  CON- 
TROL IN  RUSSIA;  ITALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT;  SHOP  STEWARD  MOVE- 
MENT; NORFOLK  IDEA.) 

Workers'  Control  in  Russia.  Soon  after  the  revolution  of 
October,  1917,  the  workers  in  Russian  factories,  etc.,  took  control 
of  the  establishments,  in  many  cases  displacing  the  management  and 
technical  staffs  entirely  and  substituting  in  their  stead  WORKS 
COMMITTEES  or  factory  committees  made  up  wholly  of  workers' 
representatives.  The  effect  of  this  step  was  in  many  cases  disastrous 
to  production.  But  with  the  rapid  development  of  trade  unions, 
following  the  revolution,  the  unions  began  to  assume  an  increasing 
measure  of  control — both  directly,  by  means  of  factory  boards  of 
management,  in  which  the  works  committees  and  the  former  owners 
or  directors  participated  with  the  trade  unions;  and  indirectly, 
through  a  close  linking-up  with  the  governmental  machinery  in 
which  the  national  control  of  industry  is  centralized.  Thus  there 
has  been  a  gradual  though  fairly  rapid  evolution  from  local  and 
direct  WORKERS'  CONTROL  to  a  broad  centralized  scheme  of  workers' 
administration.  The  works  or  factory  committee  is  now  mainly  a 
local  nucleus  of  the  trade  union,  though  it  seems  still  to  exercise 
some  direct  control  over  working  conditions  in  the  individual  estab- 
lishment. 

Workers'  Councils.  WORKS  COMMITTEES  and  SHOP  COMMIT- 
TEES are  sometimes  so  called.  More  commonly,  however,  the  term 
refers  to  a  larger  and  looser  form  of  PROLETARIAT  grouping,  which  is 
political  rather  than  economic  in  function,  and  whose  purpose  it  is 
to  form  the  bridge  or  transition  means  from  a  capitalistic  to  a  pro- 
letarian government.  Workers'  councils,  in  this  latter  sense,  were 
largely  in  control  in  both  Russia  and  Germany,  between  the  down- 
fall of  the  monarchy  and  the  establishment  of  the  republic. 

Workers'  Education  Bureau  of  America.  Organized  April, 
1921,  at  a  meeting  in  New  York  City  attended  by  two  hundred 
labor  officials,  trade  unionists,  teachers,  and  others  interested  in 
WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION.  The  purpose  of  the  Bureau,  according 

[563] 


to  its  constitution,  is  "to  collect  and  disseminate  information  rela- 
tive to  efforts  at  education  on  any  part  of  organized  labor;  to  coordi- 
nate and  assist  in  every  possible  manner  the  educational  work 
now  carried  on  by  the  organized  workers,  and  to  stimulate  the  crea- 
tion of  additional  enterprises  in  labor  education  throughout  the 
United  States."  The  Bureau  will  act  as  a  clearing-house  of  informa- 
tion ;  an  organization  for  publicity ;  a  register  of  teachers ;  a  laboratory 
on  text-books,  syllabi  of  courses,  methods  of  teaching,  etc. ;  and  an 
agency  for  the  collection  and  coordination  of  statistics. 

Workers'  Educational  Association.  This  British  organiza- 
tion to  promote  the  higher  education  of  adult  workers  in  non- 
vocational  subjects  was  formed  (though  under  a  different  name) 
in  1903 — largely  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alfred  Mans- 
bridge.  It  aims  to  bring  within  the  reach  of  all  who  desire  them 
tutorial  classes  and  lectures  on  any  branch  of  higher  education 
which  the  students  themselves  may  select.  Its  classes  and  lecture 
courses,  which  are  carried  on  mainly  in  the  large  industrial  centres, 
are  so  arranged  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  wage-earning  occupations 
of  the  students.  In  the  1919  report  of  the  Association,  its  specific 
character  and  aims  are  thus  set  forth:  "The  association  coordinates 
existing  agencies  and  devises  fresh  means  by  which  working  people 
of  all  degrees  may  be  raised  educationally,  step  by  step,  until  they 
are  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  facilities  which  are  and  may  be 
provided  by  the  universities.  It  is  a  missionary  organization  working 
in  cooperation  with  education  authorities  and  working-class  organi- 
zations. It  is  definitely  unsectarian,  non-political,  and  democratic. 
It  is  a  federation  consisting  at  present  of  2,526  organizations,  includ- 
ing 1,071  trade  unions,  TRADES  COUNCILS,  and  branches;  384  coopera- 
tive societies  and  committees;  199  adult  schools,  brotherhoods,  etc.; 
8  university  bodies;  35  local  education  authorities;  100  WORKING- 
MEN'S  CLUBS,  institutes,  etc.;  176  teachers'  associations;  73  educa- 
tional and  literary  societies;  and  328  various  societies,  mainly  of 
workpeople.  (These  figures  are  exclusive  of  organizations  affiliated 
to  the  Workers'  Educational  Association  overseas.)  It  seeks  to  ful- 
fill its  objects  in  the  following  principal  ways:  (a)  By  arousing  the 
interest  of  the  workers  in  higher  education  and  by  directing  their 
attention  to  the  facilities  already  existing;  (b)  by  inquiring  into  the 
needs  and  desires  of  the  workers  in  regard  to  education  generally 
and  by  representing  them  to  the  Board  of  Education,  universities, 
local  education  authorities,  and  educational  institutions;  (c)  by 
providing,  either  in  conjunction  with  the  aforementioned  bodies  or 

[564] 


otherwise,  facilities  for  the  study  of  subjects  of  interest  to  the  workers 
for  which  necessity  arises;  (d)  by  the  publication  of  literature  and 
by  such  other  means  as  from  time  to  time  may  be  considered  expedi- 
ent." The  Association — popularly  known  as  the  "W.  E.  A." — main- 
tains offices  in  London.  (See  TUTORIAL  CLASS  MOVEMENT.) 

Workers'  Industrial  Union  of  Australia.  Formed  in  1918, 
"to  bind  together  in  one  organization  all  wage-workers  in  every  in- 
dustry to  achieve  the  purposes  set  forth  in  the  preamble."  The  pre- 
amble declared  that  the  primary  purpose  of  the  organization  was  to 
secure  the  "abolition  of  capitalistic  class  ownership  of  the  means  of 
production — whether  privately  or  through  the  State — and  the 
establishment  in  its  place  of  social  ownership  by  the  whole  commun- 
ity." Four  of  the  six  clauses  of  the  preamble  are  almost  identical  in 
phrasing  with  that  of  the  American  I.  W.  W.  The  Workers'  Industrial 
Union  is  definitely  committed  to  the  ONE  BIG  UNION  idea.  (See 
AUSTRALIAN  LABOR  MOVEMENT.) 

Workers'  International  Industrial  Union.  In  1908  the 
INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS  OF  THE  WORLD  split  into  two  distinct  factions. 
One  of  these,  known  as  the  "Detroit  group"  or  "Detroit  I.  W.  W.," 
consisted  of  the  milder  or  SOCIALIST  LABOR  PARTY  elements  in  the 
original  I.  W.  W.  movement — those  who  favored  POLITICAL  ACTION 
as  a  temporary  expedient,  and  who  would  "capture"  the  government 
by  constitutional  means  rather  than  by  DIRECT  ACTION  and  the 
GENERAL  STRIKE.  In  1915  this  faction  adopted  the  title  of  Workers' 
International  Industrial  Union.  Its  members  are  often  called  "De 
Leonites,"  because  of  the  fact  that  their  leader  for  several  years  was 
Daniel  De  Leon,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  original  I.  W.  W. 

Workers'  Internationale.     See  INTERNATIONALE. 

Workers'  University.  This,  the  first  systematic  scheme  of 
non-vocational  WORKING-CLASS  EDUCATION  undertaken  by  organized 
workers  in  the  United  States,  was  inaugurated  in  1916  by  the  Inter- 
national Ladies'  Garment  Workers'  Union  in  New  York  City.  The 
work  consists  largely  in  evening  classes  and  lecture  courses  for  mem- 
bers of  the  union  and  their  families,  carried  on  in  various  parts  of  the 
city.  English  is  the  favorite  subject;  but  literature,  economics, 
public  speaking,  gymnastics,  etc.,  are  also  covered.  A  special  class 
for  BUSINESS  AGENTS  of  the  union,  library  facilities,  reduced  rates  to 
theatrical  entertainments,  and  an  extension  educational  service  for 
union  locals,  are  other  features.  For  the  payment  of  the  current 
expenses  of  the  University  and  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  greater 

[565] 


desire  for  education  on  the  part  of  its  members,  the  International 
Ladies'  Garment  Workers'  Union  makes  an  annual  appropriation  of 
$  10,000.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  from  the  union  dues  that  this  appropria- 
tion is  made,  the  classes  and  all  other  activities  are  free  to  members. 
A  similar  "workers'  university"  has  been  established  under  the  same 
union's  auspices  and  control  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Workers'  Welfare  League  of  India.  Established  in  1918,  as 
a  means  of  representing  in  Great  Britain  the  interests  of  Indian 
wage-earners.  The  League  maintains  permanent  headquarters  in 
London. 

Working  Agreement.     See  TRADE  AGREEMENT. 

Working  Button.  In  certain  occupations  (as  for  example, 
among  street  railway  employees,  teamsters,  chauffeurs,  etc.)  where 
the  use  of  the  UNION  LABEL  or  the  UNION  SHOP  CARD  is  impracticable, 
the  purpose  of  these  latter  devices  is  served  by  the  so-called  "working 
button,"  which  is  worn  by  the  workers  as  a  public  notification  that 
they  are  trade  union  members  "in  good  standing."  Such  buttons 
are  generally  issued  monthly  by  the  unions  concerned,  the  date  and 
usually  the  color  being  changed  each  month.  Also  called  "union 
button."  (See  BUTTON  STRIKE.) 

Working  Card.  Nearly  all  American  trade  unions  issue  to 
their  members  a  card  which  serves  as  notice  that  its  possessor  is  a 
union  MEMBER  IN  GOOD  STANDING,  and  which  must  be  shown  on  re- 
quest to  any  BUSINESS  AGENT,  SHOP  STEWARD,  or  other  member  of 
the  union.  Such  cards  are  issued  monthly,  quarterly,  or  every  six 
months,  the  color  being  usually  changed  each  time.  In  some  cases 
the  working  card  contains  a  record  of  dues  and  assessments  paid  by 
the  holder,  and  sometimes  of  his  attendance  at  union  meetings  as 
well.  Such  cards  are,  as  a  general  rule,  issued  by  the  local  unions. 
In  the  case  of  the  building  trades,  working  cards  in  the  larger  cities 
are  issued  by  the  local  BUILDING  TRADES  COUNCILS,  which  often  make 
a  specific  charge  for  the  cards — thus  in  effect  licensing  union  members 
to  work  at  their  trades.  (See  COMBINATION  CARD.) 

Working -Class  Education.  One  of  the  most  important 
developments  of  the  past  decade  or  so  in  the  labor  movement  is  the 
creation  of  a  network  of  educational  institutions  by  and  for  the 
workers  themselves.  This  development  should  be  carefully  distin- 
guished from  any  form  of  purely  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION — its  purpose 
is  not  technical  but  general.  One  promoter  of  working-class  educa- 

[566] 


tion  describes  its  purpose  as  "the  emancipation  of  the  workers  from 
the  control  of  the  governing  class  over  their  education."  Another 
pronouncement  on  the  subject  reads  as  follows:  "Labor  education 
must  differ  radically  from  education  given  at  ordinary  universities 
and  colleges.  Education  in  our  universities  and  colleges  is  essentially 
capitalistic,  in  that  it  glorifies  competition  and  seeks  to  produce  an 
efficient  individual.  Education  that  may  properly  be  called  labor 
education  is  essentially  socialistic,  in  that  it  glorifies  cooperation 
and  seeks  to  produce  an  efficient  social  and  industrial  order.  For 
this  reason  the  workers'  college  must  arise  to  get  away  from  old 
academic  traditions  and  ideals,  and  must  be  a  pioneer  in  education 
by  its  democracy,  by  its  seeking  to  give  students  what  they  want, 
not  what  some  academic  group  thinks  they  ought  to  have."  The 
more  important  American  and  British  institutions  for  working-class 
education  are  separately  described  in  this  book  under  their  respective 
names  (see  cross  references  below).  The  following  summary  of  con- 
tinental developments  in  this  field  is  taken  from  an  article  by 
Henry  tfe  Man  in  "The  New  Republic"  (March  2,  1921):  "In  Ger- 
many and  in  Austria  the  Arbeiterbildungsausschuss,  the  Parteischule, 
and  the  Gewerksschaftsschule  probably  represent  the  most  systematic 
and  powerful  attempt  at  creating  an  instrument  of  proletarian 
culture  that  has  ever  been  undertaken  anywhere.  Its  pedagogical 
method,  however,  marks  a  less  radical  departure  from  that  of  official 
academic  Germany  than  its  clear  theoretical  formulation,  in  Marxian 
terminology,  of  the  revolutionary  aim  of  the  labor  movement  in 
the  field  of  human  science  would  seem  to  call  for.  Perhaps  the  most 
comprehensive  effort  in  that  respect  is  that  of  the  Belgian  Centrale 
d'Education  Ouvridre,  which  lays  as  much  stress  as  German  social 
democracy  does  on  the  cultural  autonomy  of  the  labor  movement, 
but  pursues  an  ideal  of  proletarian  education  which  is  less  purely 
rationalistic  and  doctrinal,  and  pays  more  attention  to  individual 
character  formation  and  to  the  ethical  and  aesthetic  side  of  its  work. 
.  .  .  France's  most  recent  and  characteristic  contribution  to  this 
movement  is  the  Paris  Universitt  du  Peuple,  recently  inaugurated 
with  an  address  by  Elie  Faure  in  which  he  claimed  that  'proletarian 
education  is  not  a  continuation,  but  a  beginning;  it  is  a  revolt  against 
the  decadence  of  bourgeois  culture — the  revolt  of  a  class  that,  just 
because  of  its  present  ignorance,  constitutes  humanity's  reserve  of 
candor  and  curiosity,  and  promises  to  start  it  on  a  new  quest  for  a 
new  ideal.'  Holland,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Czecho-Slovakia,  and  the 
Scandinavian  countries  also  have  a  system  of  labor  education  more 
or  less  copied  from  the  German  or  Belgian  model.  /  .  .  In  Soviet 

[567] 


Russia,  lastly,  what  Ltmacharsky,  Alexandra  Kollontay,  and  the 
'Commissariat  for  Proletarian  Culture'  are  trying  to  achieve  in  the 
face  of  tremendous  odds  is  a  system  of  labor  education  that,  if 
Russian  conditions  had  allowed  of  its  normal  development  previous 
to  the  revolution,  would  possibly  have  lessened  some  of  the  difficulties 
which  now  hamper  Russia's  democratic  development."  Many, 
though  by  no  means  all,  of  these  experiments  in  autonomous  working- 
class  education  may  be  considered  as  part  of  the  nucleus  of  a  new  and 
different  social  system.  If  this  be  true,  as  Mr.  de  Man  remarks, 
"then  they  promise  a  revolution  of  pedagogy,  an  adjustment  of  its 
aims  and  methods  to  the  demands  of  modern  science,  which  the  ex- 
isting system  seems  to  be  increasingly  powerless  to  effect.  Labor 
brings  with  it  an  unquenchable  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  the  labor 
movement  directs  this  new  desire  towards  an  aim  that  is  no  longer 
individualistic  and  competitive,  but  altruistic.  Hence  the  inspiration 
of  a  new  ethical  social  aim,  the  lack  of  which  is  the  fundamental 
cause  of  the  shortcomings  of  the  present  school  system,  which  trains 
for  individual  competition  in  a  society  where  individual  competition 
has  ceased  to  be  the  way  out  for  the  masses."  (See  WORKERS' 
EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION;  CENTRAL  LABOR  COLLEGE;  RUSKIN 
COLLEGE;  WORKERS'  EDUCATION  BUREAU  OF  AMERICA;  WORKERS' 
UNIVERSITY;  UNITED  LABOR  EDUCATION  COMMITTEE;  BROOKWOOD 
COLLEGE;  BOSTON  TRADE  UNION  COLLEGE;  RAND  SCHOOL  OF  SOCIAL 
SCIENCE;  TRADE  UNION  COLLEGE  OF  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.;  WORK- 
ERS' COLLEGE  OF  SEATTLE;  DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION  OF  THE 
PENNSYLVANIA  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR;  MINING  INSTITUTES;  AKA- 
DEMIE  DER  ARBEIT.) 

Working  Conditions  or  Conditions  of  Employment.  The 
chief  concern  in  COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  is  the  fixing  of  uniform 
wage  scales  and  the  determination  of  uniform  "working  conditions" 
or  "conditions  of  employment."  The  latter  phrases  cover  a  wide 
field,  which  is  difficult  of  precise  delimitation.  Of  main  importance, 
however,  in  this  connection  are  non-unionist,  APPRENTICESHIP,  and 
DEMARCATION  questions;  the  various  expedients  for  meeting  UNEM- 
PLOYMENT; DISCIPLINE,  dismissals,  and  the  handling  of  grievances; 
promotion  and  the  choice  and  authority  of  foremen;  methods  and 
payment  and  the  measurement  of  results;  restrictions  on  technique; 
etc.,  etc. 

Working  Conditions  Service.  A  war-time  agency  of  the 
UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR,  organized  to  suggest  and 

[568] 


supervise  plans  for  INDUSTRIAL  SAFETY,  particularly  in  the  production 
of  munitions.    It  passed  out  of  existence  June  30,  1919. 

Working  Hours  in  Germany.  A  national  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY 
for  all  German  industrial  workers  was  ordered  by  the  act  of  November 
23,  1918,  on  the  basis  of  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Volksbeauftragten 
(people's  commissioners)  and  put  into  effect  for  salaried  employees 
in  the  same  way  by  the  law  of  March  18,  1919.  The  maximum 
working  day  for  agricultural  workers  was  placed  by  the  Temporary 
Rural  Workers'  Statutes  of  December  20,  1918,  and  January  23, 
1919,  in  four  months  of  the  year  at  an  average  of  eight  hours  daily, 
in  another  four  months  at  ten,  and  in  the  remaining  four  months  at 
eleven  hours.  At  the  same  time  in  all  these  cases  a  regulation  of  the 
REST  PERIODS  in  the  working  day  was  brought  about.  To  the  already 
existing  regulations  against  NIGHT  WORK  there  was  added  through 
the  decree  of  the  council  of  Volksbeauftragten  of  December  23,  1918, 
the  important  regulation  against  night  work  in  all  large  bakeries 
and  confectionary  establishments.  Especial  limitations  on  the  hours 
of  labor,  particularly  for  women  and  children,  have  been  imposed 
in  the  case  of  certain  hazardous  industries. 

Working  Hours  in  Russia.  Under  the  Soviet  labor  code, 
the  normal  working  day  for  manual  workers  in  Russia  is  eight 
hours  for  day  work  and  seven  hours  for  NIGHT  WORK;  while  for  em- 
ployees in  offices  it  is  six  hours.  The  normal  working  day  for  persons 
under  eighteen  years  of  age  is  six  hours.  In  especially  hard  and 
DANGEROUS  OCCUPATIONS  the  normal  day  for  adult  workers  is  six 
hours.  No  persons  under  eighteen  years  of  age  nor  any  women  are 
permitted  to  work  OVERTIME  or  on  NIGHT  WORK.  All  hours  over  the 
normal  day  are  paid  as  overtime,  and  each  shop  is  allowed  to  vote 
on  the  number  of  hours  to  be  worked  overtime.  All  wage  earners 
are  allowed  a  weekly  uninterrupted  rest  of  not  less  than  forty-two 
hours.  Every  worker  is  entitled  to  a  two  weeks'  vacation  with  pay 
every  six  months,  regardless  of  whether  he  has  worked  in  one  or 
several  employments.  Women  are  excused  from  work  eight  weeks 
before  and  eight  weeks  after  confinement,  and  receive  full  pay  during 
this  period.  (See  SUBBOTNIK.) 

Working  Papers  or  Working  Permits.  See  EMPLOYMENT 
CERTIFICATES. 

Working  People's  Non -Partisan  League.  A  Minnesota  or- 
ganization, formed  in  July,  1919,  "to  unite  members  of  organized  and 
unorganized  labor  into  a  political  league  together  with  those  in  sym- 

[569] 


pathy  with  the  interests  of  the  common  people,  in  order  that  repre- 
sentatives may  be  elected  to  office  who  will  enact,  interpret,  and  en- 
force laws  that  will  serve  the  general  welfare  in  accordance  with  the 
platform  and  programme  adopted  by  this  organization."  It  works 
in  close  association  with  the  national  NON-PARTISAN  LEAGUE. 

Working  Rules.  The  definite  stipulations  of  a  national 
or  international  trade  union  in  regard  to  such  matters  as  the  hours  of 
beginning  and  ending  work,  CLASSIFICATION  of  workers,  MINIMUM 
WAGES,  payment  for  OVERTIME,  age  and  number  of  APPRENTICES  to 
be  taken,  arrangements  as  to  PIECE  WORK,  holidays  to  be  allowed, 
notice  to  be  given  by  employers  or  workmen  terminating  engagements, 
accommodations  to  be  provided  for  meals  and  the  safe  custody  of 
tools,  allowances  or  extra  payments,  etc.,  etc.  Such  rules  are  often 
supplied  to  all  members  of  the  union  in  a  printed  "rule  book,"  the 
provisions  of  which  must  be  strictly  observed.  Also  called  "trade 
rules."  (See  BY-LAWS;  BLACK  MONEY;  GRINDING  MONEY;  WALK- 
ING TIME;  DINNER  MONEY;  COUNTRY  MONEY.) 

Working  Stiff.     See  STIFF. 

Workingmen's  Clubs.  In  England,  local  societies  for  social 
intercourse,  mutual  helpfulness,  mental  and  moral  improvement, 
rational  recreation,  and  other  similar  purposes.  In  1915  there  were 
about  1500  such  clubs  in  Great  Britain,  with  a  total  membership  of 
about  half  a  million.  Most  of  them  are  federated  in  a  Working- 
Men's  Club  and  Institute  Union. 

Workingmen's  Party  of  America.  See  SOCIALIST  LABOR 
PARTY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Workmen's  Compensation.  Under  the  common  law  of  EM- 
PLOYER'S LIABILITY,  the  rights  of  a  worker  in  securing  damages  for  an 
industrial  accident  are  much  more  closely  restricted  than  those  of 
an  outsider.  The  unjust  and  demoralizing  workings  of  this  system 
led  to  a  gradual  recognition,  beginning  in  Germany  about  1879,  that 
"industrial  accidents  presented  not  so  much  a  legal  as  an  economic 
and  social  problem,  that  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  human  machine, 
like  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  inanimate  machinery,  should  therefore 
be  considered  a  necessary  part  of  the  cost  of  production,  to  be  pro- 
vided for  out  of  the  price,  before  profits  may  be  computed  "  (Rubinow : 
"Social  Insurance").  As  a  result,  laws  have  been  passed  in  nearly 
all  European  countries  and  by  the  Federal  government  and  nearly 
all  state  governments  of  this  country,  which  make  the  employer 

lS7o] 


automatically  liable  for  at  least  a  part  of  the  economic  loss  caused 
by  industrial  accidents,  regardless  of  initial  fault  or  responsibility. 
In  such  laws  the  amount  of  compensation  to  an  injured  worker  is 
generally  determined  within  a  maximum  and  minimum  limit  by 
specified  schedules  of  compensation  fixed  in  the  law,  and  are  graded 
on  a  basis  of  a  certain  percentage  of  the  loss  or  impairment  of  the 
injured  worker's  average  weekly  wage.  Jury  trials  are  either  largely 
or  wholly  eliminated,  and  the  compensation  to  which  the  worker  is 
entitled  under  the  law  is  usually  determined  by  a  board,  commis- 
sion, or  official  either  created  or  specified  by  the  act.  The  principle 
of  workmen's  compensation  (sometimes  called  "industrial  accident 
insurance,"  and  "employees'  compensation")  is  now  so  generally 
accepted  that  at  least  fifty  foreign  countries  and  provinces,  including 
practically  all  of  any  industrial  importance,  have  laws  of  this  charac- 
ter. Beginning  with  the  year  1909,  compensation  legislation  has 
been  enacted  in  forty-two  states  of  the  American  union,  besides  the 
District  of  Columbia  (public  employees  only),  the  territories  of  Alaska 
and  Hawaii,  and  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippine  Islands.  The  rapid 
growth  of  American  compensation  legislation,  involving,  as  it  has,  the 
almost  simultaneous  enactment  of  laws  in  a  number  of  states,  has 
operated  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  any  one  form  of  law  as  a  type, 
so  that,  although  a  single  fundamental  principle  underlies  the  entire 
group  of  laws  of  this  class,  its  expression  and  application  present 
great  diversity  of  details  in  the  different  states.  No  fixed  form  of 
analysis  or  summary  presentation  can  give  in  complete  detail  the  pro- 
visions of  the  laws  under  consideration.  They  relate  not  only  to  the 
compensation  of  accidents,  but  to  accident  •  reporting,  safety  pro- 
visions, the  enforcement  of  safety  laws,  the  establishment  of  insur- 
ance systems,  premium  rates,  investments,  the  scaling  of  payments 
in  cases  of  certain  forms  of  negligence  or  their  increase  under  certain 
conditions,  procedure  in  arbitration,  forms  of  appeal,  and  a  great 
variety  of  subjects  on  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  generalize,  and 
which  can  be  discovered  only  by  a  reading  of  the  individual  statutes. 
Compensation  laws  may  be  classified  first  as  compulsory  or  elective. 
A  compulsory  law  is  one  which  requires  every  employer  within  its 
scope  to  accept  the  act  and  pay  the  compensations  specified.  Usually 
but  not  always,  the  employee  must  also  accept  the  provisions  of  the 
act.  An  elective  act  is  one  in  which  the  employer  has  the  option  of 
either  accepting  or  rejecting  the  act;  but,  in  case  he  rejects,  the  cus- 
tomary common-law  defenses  under  employer's  liability  are  abro- 
gated. In  other  words,  the  employer  is  subjected  to  a  higher  degree 
of  liability  if  he  does  not  elect.  In  most  states  the  employee  also 


has  the  right  to  accept  or  reject  the  act.  None  of  the  compensation 
laws  covers  all  employments.  Usually  AGRICULTURAL  LABOR,  DOMES- 
TIC SERVICE,  employments  that  are  casual  in  nature  or  are  not  con- 
ducted for  the  purpose  of  the  employer's  business,  and  in  some  laws 
non-hazardous  employments,  are  exempted  from  the  provisions  of  the 
act.  It  may  be  provided,  however,  that  such  employments  may  come 
under  the  provisions  of  the  law  through  the  voluntary  acceptance  of 
the  employer  or  the  joint  election  of  employer  and  employee  in  these 
exempted  classes,  but  the  employer  loses  no  rights  or  defenses  if  he 
does  not  accept,  and  to  this  extent  the  compensation  law  is  a  volun- 
tary one.  Thus  a  law  may  be  either  compulsory  or  elective  as  to  the 
employments  covered,  and  voluntary  as  to  other  employments. 
Furthermore,  an  act  may  be  elective  as  to  private  but  compulsory 
as  to  public  employments.  Besides  the  distinction  as  to  the  com- 
pulsory or  elective  application  of  the  law,  it  may  require  the  employer 
coming  under  it,  whether  voluntarily  or  by  compulsion,  to  insure  his 
liability  to  make  payments,  or  it  may  leave  the  matter  of  insurance 
to  his  own  choice.  Thus  the  state  may  make  provision  for  the  carrying 
of  such  insurance,  and  require  all  employers  coming  under  the  act  to 
avail  themselves  of  such  provision;  or  the  state  fund  may  simply 
offer  one  of  alternative  methods.  Again,  the  state  may  refrain 
entirely  from  such  action,  but  require  insurance  in  private  companies, 
stock  or  mutual;  and  lastly,  self -insurance  may  be  permitted — i.e., 
the  carrying  of  the  risk  by  the  individual,  subject  to  such  safeguards 
as  the  law  may  prescribe.  Compensation  for  OCCUPATIONAL  DISEASES 
contracted  in  the  course  of  employment  is  now  a  generally  recognized 
•factor  in  workmen's  compensation  laws.  (See  UNITED  STATES  EM- 
PLOYEES' COMPENSATION  ACT;  CONTRACTING  OUT;  ACCIDENT- 
REPORTING  LAWS ;  VOCATIONAL  REHABILITATION;  WAITING  PERIOD; 
BERUFSGENOSSENSCHAFTEN.) 

Workmen's  Insurance.    See  SOCIAL  INSURANCE. 

Works.  The  British  equivalent  of  an  American  PLANT — that 
is,  an  entire  factory  or  other  industrial  establishment  in  a  given 
locality,  including  all  units  and  operations  known  separately  as 
SHOPS. 

Works  Bonus.     See  COLLECTIVE  BONUS  SYSTEM. 

Works  Committee  or  Works  Council.  In  the  European 
sense,  (i)  a  body  representative  of  all  the  workers  in  a  single  industrial 
WORKS  or  PLANT;  or  (2)  a  joint  body  representing  both  the  workers 
and  the  management  of  a  single  industrial  plant.  In  either  case,  the 
works  committee  is  usually  carefully  differentiated  in  Europe  from 

[572] 


the  SHOP  COMMITTEE,  which  is  representative  of  the  workers  in  only 
one  department  or  unit  of  an  establishment.  In  the  United  States, 
such  a  differentiation  is  rarely  observed,  and  the  terms  "shop  com- 
mittee" and  "works  committee"  or  "works  council"  (where  the 
latter  terms  are  used  at  all,  which  is  seldom)  generally  denote  the 
same  thing — a  committee  representative  of  all  the  workers  of  an  en- 
tire establishment.  In  England,  a  works  committee  may  be  either 

(1)  a  body  elected  by  all  the  workers  of  an  establishment,  each  de- 
partment or  "shop"  being  treated  as  a  separate  constituency  and 
often  electing  a  number  of  members  proportionate  to  its  size;    or 

(2)  in  a  large  works  where  SHOP  STEWARDS  are  numerous,  a  body 
elected  by  the  shop  stewards;  or  (3)  a  body  consisting  of  all  the  shop 
stewards  of  a  single  works.     The  main  functions  of  a  works  com- 
mittee are  to  adjust  grievances  and  differences  arising  in  the  course 
of  daily  work,  to  consider  wage  changes  and  working  conditions,  and 
in  general  to  contribute  the  collective  experience  and  judgment  of 
the  entire  personnel  of  the  establishment  toward  greater  harmony, 
efficiency,  and  welfare  throughout  the  works.    Under  the  WHITLEY 
PLAN,  the  works  committee  is  directly  correlated  with  the  DISTRICT 

INDUSTRIAL    COUNCILS    and    the    NATIONAL    INDUSTRIAL    COUNCIL    in 

each  large  industry,  all  questions  relating  to  the  industry  in  general 
(such  as  wages,  hours,  work,  etc.)  being  dealt  with  by  the  district 
and  national  bodies.  It  is  an  important  essential  of  the  Whitley  plan 
and  of  other  European  works  councils  schemes  that  both  the  workers 
and  their  representatives  shall  be  members  of  trade  unions.  In 
other  words,  the  RECOGNITION  and  cooperation  of  trade  unions  are 
fundamental  to  the  works  committee  plan.  In  the  United  States, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  shop  or  works  committee  system  is  most 
commonly  adopted  by  employers  who  uncompromisingly  oppose 
trade  unionism;  thus,  whatever  other  merits  it  may  have,  the 
movement  in  this  country  is  practically  incapable  of  effecting  any 
radical  improvement  in  the  economic  status  of  the  working  class. 
Even  in  Europe  a  large  section  of  the  labor  movement  views  the  works 
committee  plan  as  a  sop  or  compromise,  intended  to  delay  or  defeat 
true  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY.  Works  committees  or  councils  are 
often  known  as  "factory  committees"  or  "factory  councils."  The 
designation,  "plant  committee"  or  "plant  council,"  is  not  uncommon 
in  the  United  States.  (See  GERMAN  WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW;  NOR- 
WEGIAN WORKS  COUNCILS  LAW;  INDUSTRIAL  COUNCIL  SYSTEM  IN 
BELGIUM;  AUSTRIAN  WORKS  COUNCILS;  WORKERS'  CONTROL  IN 
RUSSIA;  ARBEITSGEMEINSCHAFTEN;  COUNCILS  OF  EXPLOITATION; 
BOMBACCI  PLAN;  JOINT  SHOP  COMMITTEE;  COMPANY  COUNCIL.) 

[573] 


Works  Council.    See  WORKS  COMMITTEE. 

Works  Schools.  In  England,  CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS  or  PART- 
TIME  SCHOOLS  for  young  persons  organized  in  the  particular  works 
where  they  are  employed.  Provision  for  compulsory  works  schools 
is  contained  in  the  British  Education  Act  of  1918.  Works  schools 
are  much  opposed  by  the  majority  of  British  trade  unionists,  who 
hold  that  workers'  education  should  not  be  thus  placed  under  the 
control  of  employers. 


Y 


Yard  Committee -Man.     See  SHOP  STEWARD. 
Yeggs.    See  MIGRATORY  LABOR. 

Yellow.  An  adjective  often  applied  in  an  opprobrious  sense, 
generally  by  those  who  are  RED,  to  moderate  and  OPPORTUNIST 
groups,  policies,  etc.,  in  the  European  socialist-labor  movement; 
also  to  labor  organizations  initiated  or  fostered  by  employers.  (See 
YELLOW  UNION.) 

Yellow  Internationale.    See  INTERNATIONALE. 

Yellow  Union.  In  the  United  States,  this  term  is  usually 
applied  by  trade  unionists  to  a  labor  organization  directly  initiated 
or  fostered  by  employers,  or  one  which  is  considered  to  further  the 
interests  of  employers.  It  is  often  used  in  this  sense  in  the  European 
labor  movement  also;  though  more  commonly  it  denotes  in  Europe 
merely  a  conservative  labor  organization — one  opposed  to  socialistic 
or  other  radical  policies  and  devoted  to  improvements  in  working- 
class  conditions  without  fundamental  change  in  the  economic  and 
social  structure.  (See  COMPANY  UNION;  SYNDICAT;  FRENCH  LABOR 
MOVEMENT;  RED  UNION.) 

Young  Communist  Internationale.  Before  the  war  what 
was  commonly  known  as  the  "Young  Socialist  Movement,"  com- 
prising the  younger  elements  in  most  socialist  parties,  was  organized 
internationally  in  a  separate  "International  Secretariat"  (established 
1907),  which  affiliated  with  the  INTERNATIONAL  SOCIALIST  BUREAU 
in  1910.  In  December,  1919,  the  left-wing  elements  among  the 
"Young  Socialists"  met  in  an  international  congress  at  Berlin  and 
constituted  an  International  League  of  Young  Communists,  usually 
known  as  the  "Young  Communist  Internationale."  This  organiza- 
tion now  includes  the  greater  part  of  the  Young  Socialist  movement 
in  most  countries.  It  is  subject  to  the  control  of  the  COMMUNIST 
INTERNATIONALE  and  its  executive  committee. 

[575] 


Young  Person.  As  used  in  British  FACTORY  AND  WORKSHOP 
ACTS,  public  health  legislation,  etc.,  this  term  denotes  a  person  be- 
tween the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen.  One  who  is  less  than 
fourteen  years  old  is,  in  the  legislative  sense,  a  "child";  while  one 
above  the  age  of  eighteen  is  an  "adult." 

Young  Socialist  Movement.  See  YOUNG  COMMUNIST  INTER- 
NATIONALE. 

Yuai  Kai.    See  JAPANESE  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 


Zentralarbeitersekretariat  (Central  Workers'  Secretariat). 
See  ARBEITERSEKRETARIAT. 

Zentralverband  der  Bulgarischen  Gewerkschaften  (Cen- 
tral Federation  of  Bulgarian  Trade  Unions).  The  national  organiza- 
tion of  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC  UNIONS  in  Bulgaria,  with  an  affiliated 
membership  of  about  28,000.  The  communist  movement,  on  the 
other  hand,  claims  40,000  trade  unionists. 

Zentralverbande  (Centralized  Unions).  The  separate  national 
organizations  of  affiliated  GEWERKSCHAFTEN  or  SOCIAL  DEMOCRATIC 
UNIONS  of  Germany  are  so  called.  The  thorough-going  centraliza- 
tion policy  of  German  trade  unionism  is  well  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  approximately  eight  million  members  of  the  Gewerkschaften  are 
nationally  organized  in  only  about  fifty-two  Zentralverbande.  These 
latter  are  not  merely  national  federations,  but  close  amalgamations, 
along  both  craft  and  industrial  lines,  and  including  men  and  women, 
skilled  and  unskilled  workers,  alike.  The  Zentralverbande  are  affili- 
ated in  the  ALLGEMEINER  DEUTSCHER  GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND. 

Zimmerwald  Movement.  In  September,  1915,  an  international 
congress  of  socialist-labor  groups  opposed  to  the  war  met  at  Zimmer- 
wald, Switzerland,  upon  an  invitation  of  the  Italian  Socialists.  Reso- 
lutions of  an  uncompromising  anti-war  character  were  passed,  and  a 
permanent  Commission  established.  At  a  later  meeting  of  the 
same  groups,  held  in  April,  1916,  the  movement  developed  a  decided 
revolutionary  tendency.  The  Commission  met  in  Stockholm  the 
following  year  and  decided  that  a  new  INTERNATIONALE  must  be 
formed,  the  result  of  this  decision  being  the  COMMUNIST  INTERNA- 
TIONALE, organized  at  Moscow  in  March,  1919. 

Zone  Clearance  System.  To  facilitate  the  work  of  the 
UNITED  STATES  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAU  in  its  present  function  as  a 
NATIONAL  CLEARING  HOUSE  FOR  LABOR,  the  continental  area  of  the 
United  States  (exclusive  of  Alaska)  has  been  divided  into  thirteen 
"labor  clearance  zones,"  corresponding  in  the  main  to  the  various 

[577] 


Federal  Reserve  Bank  districts.  As  soon  as  funds  are  made  avail- 
able for  the  purpose  it  is  proposed  to  put  a  paid  zone  clearance  officer 
in  charge  of  each  of  these  districts.  It  is  assumed  that  each  state 
will  have  its  own  system  of  labor  clearance,  and  will  supply  its  im- 
mediate needs  from  its  own  resources  of  workers  and  of  industrial 
opportunities.  The  process  of  labor  clearance  within  the  state  is 
supposedly  a  continuous  one,  day  by  day,  if  not  hour  by  hour.  Any 
surplus  of  either  opportunities  or  applicants  remaining  undisposed 
of  at  the  close  of  the  day  is  then  to  be  reported  to  the  zone  clearance 
officer  and,  so  far  as  it  is  not  promptly  disposed  of  by  him  within  the 
zone,  is  to  be  reported  to  the  national  clearing  house  at  Washington. 
The  duties  of  zone  clearance  officers  involve  merely  the  coordination 
of  the  activities  of  the  Federal  directors  for  the  various  states  within 
their  zones,  and  do  not  extend  to  soliciting  opportunities  for  employ- 
ment, recruiting  workers,  or  PLACEMENT  WORK  of  any  kind.  The 
matching  of  the  LABOR  SURPLUS  against  the  "labor  wanted"  takes 
place  daily  within  each  zone,  while  inter-zone  or  national  clearance 
will  be  effected  by  the  national  clearing  house  at  Washington  on  the 
basis  of  weekly  or  more  frequent  reports  of  "labor  surplus"  or 
"labor  wanted."  The  zone  clearance  officers  are  also  required  to 
report  weekly,  or  more  frequently,  the  condition  of  the  LABOR  MARKET 
in  all  parts  of  their  respective  zones.  While  the  zone  clearance  officer 
usually  communicates  only  through  the  national  office  at  Washington, 
he  is  permitted  in  case  of  emergency  to  communicate  directly  with 
the  zone  clearance  officer  of  an  adjoining  zone  with  a  view  to  effecting 
directly  and  without  loss  of  time  the  adjustment  of  labor  surplus 
and  demand  as  between  such  two  or  more  zones. 


THE    END 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


MARf/^77 

SEP^2005 

OCT  05; 


Book  Slip-35m-7,'63(D8634s4)4280 


UCLA-College  Library 

HD4839B81 

College 
Library 

HD 

L  005  665  603  6 

HD 

^839 
B8l 

4839 

B81 

UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Illl  Hill  Illlllllllllllll  Hill  II  Illll" 


001  075  041 


